November is Alzheimer’s Awareness Month, and according to the Alzheimer’s Association, more than 7 million Americans aged 65 and older are currently living with the disease.
In North Texas, one woman is drawing on her personal experience to help other families navigate the profound challenges that accompany an Alzheimer’s diagnosis.
As the Chief Operating Officer of Tradition Senior Living, Vanessa Fernandes-Randall has spent years working alongside individuals living with Alzheimer’s. However, she acknowledges that nothing could have fully prepared her for her own mother’s diagnosis five years ago.
“For me, there was a little bit of guilt,” she said. “There was a little bit of could I have done more? What do I do? Am I qualified to take care of mom?”
Following her mother’s diagnosis, Vanessa began observing a gradual but significant decline with each visit.
“Every day routine tasks were things that my mom was just forgetting,” she said. “So, it’s not just your I forgot where the keys are.. it was I’m forgetting what the keys are for. It wasn’t just the basic I don’t know where the phone is … it ended up being I don’t know how to use the phone. So how do you preserve the memories? How do you keep track of these wonderful stories that you know and remember? Or some you might not know?”
These deeply personal questions inspired Vanessa to create *Still Me*, a keepsake activity book thoughtfully designed to help families maintain meaningful connections through memory exercises, movement, conversation prompts, photographs, and familiar music.
“My mom could not always remember what happened five minutes ago, but boy, if I turned on an Elvis Presley song – she came alive,” Vanessa said. “At 90-something, my mom would break out into a dance.”
Over the course of the summer, Vanessa’s mother passed away. Nevertheless, she reflects with gratitude on how the book succeeded in preserving some of their most cherished moments together.
“There is a memento of her life,” she said. “There is proof of the goodness of her that is here in this book and so it is just a great reminder of the things that I was able to do with her in her final years.”
Last month, Vanessa made *Still Me* available to the public. The book can be purchased through Amazon, via Vanessa’s personal website, and at the local establishment For Heaven’s Sake, located in Snider Plaza.
