“The memories may fade in someone with dementia, but they will live on in the memories of their family and friends.”
Jack Heath recently woke up from a nightmare where his mother, Jacqueline, had passed away. He immediately knew he needed to create a photo series documenting the progression of his mother's illness, Pick's Disease, a form of early-onset Alzheimer's.
It was one of those hideously emotional dreams," he told BuzzFeed. "So I made a post, just trying to get it out of my system. I didn’t expect it to go anywhere." The post has gone viral and is now at the top of Reddit.
The photo above was taken around 2005. The caption reads, "At this point, Jacquie had Pick's Disease, but it had been misdiagnosed as menopause. She would be about 48 here."
Image courtesy of Jake Heath
"In the beginning of the disease, when she had about 70% of her cognitive ability left, we found it very important to make her feel useful," he said.
Here, Jake's father and Jacquie's husband Tim Heath, Jake's sister Zoe Sherwin, and Jaquie are at the beach in 2010. "Lots of Jacquie around. She can't remember too much though," the caption reads.
Image courtesy of Jake Heath
Soon after, his family noticed that everyday adventures needed to dwindle down.
This photo was also taken in 2010. She loved riding with her husband on his motorcycle. In 2011, "an on-bike paranoia attack nearly caused an accident," and she could no longer risk going out on the motorcycle.
Image courtesy of Jake Heath
Soon, Jacquie's weight began to rapidly decrease. "It’s important to cherish every day and to look for the silver linings. In our case, the silver lining was that the rest of my family became a lot closer," Jake said.
Here they are again on the beach not much later, and "conversation is non-existent."
Image courtesy of Jake Heath
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