Life

Dementia is a frightening word. It conjures the thought of our mental processes breaking down and the complete loss of everything we know. Although Alexander Pope wrote of the “eternal sunshine of the spotless mind,” for many people suffering from neurodegenerative diseases and for their caregivers, the diagnosis brings profound fear of a loss of autonomy. As millions of baby boomers enter their seventies and eighties, our health care system will have to adapt and expand the way it supports seniors through memory-related illnesses.

Beyond the science and statistics, argued the journalist Darce Fardy, the stories of those who experience dementia are essential to understanding its complexity. Fardy was a seasoned reporter for the CBC: his nearly forty-year career there spanned programs like The Fifth Estate, The Journal, and Marketplace. After retiring in 1991, he served as the review officer under Nova Scotia’s Freedom of Information and...