When I picked up this book I expected to find lots of useful information: unexpectedly, I also found parts of it deeply moving.
The authors write from a background of extensive experience in caring for the elderly. The helpful facts about dementia are spread throughout the book and include how to prepare if you are diagnosed with dementia yourself, ways of helping sufferers and carers, and coping in the community. I loved the chapter called 'What's happening to grandma?' which gives advice on helping children to cope with a family member's dementia. There is a powerful Christian theme underlying the whole book: ' losing your mind does not mean losing your soul.' The moving testimonies to this fact run through the pages like a string of pearls. Don't miss this powerful and poignant book.
In the UK in 2007 there were approximately 684,000 dementia sufferers. Add to that number all the families, friends and carers involved, and there is a large number of people who could benefit from this book. Having had a family member with dementia, I can say that here is an accurate and helpful picture. The book also, unlike others by secular publishers, examines the spiritual side of the sufferers, and gives hope in that it appears that they still have a strong connection with God. There is a list of organisations from which to get further help.