TRACING MEMORY
Light and Life in the Shadow of Alzheimer’s
Often closeted due to stigma, Alzheimer’s reshapes the lives of those who bear witness to its relentless progression. What’s so chilling about Alzheimer’s: it is not only a corporeal disease. It attacks one’s personality while washing away the millions of memories that have merged and helped shape the “self.”
The Memories
Our possessions are material memoirs, the passport stamps of a seasoned traveler.
Starr County, Texas
Fog rolls over the Rio Grande River which separates the U.S. from Mexico, as seen from the bluffs in Roma.
Starr County is a landscape of wind farms and cattle ranches, border police trolling the Rio Grande River, large close-knit families, and stray dogs who will welcome a handout, but preferably from a distance. Hidden just below the surface, it is also home to among the nation’s highest rates of Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias.
What’s next?
“The problem is here. It’s in your community. Everyone can do something to make a difference in this fight.”
– GREGORY SCUITO, Region Lead for the North Central Texas Alzheimer’s Association