Growing up as a little girl I didn’t have much family around me, in fact I only had my mother and grandmother. My grandfather had died a couple of years before I was born and unfortunately my father was no longer in the picture. Watching my mother bring me up as a single parent, has made me the person I am today and it because of her that I am currently taking a care provider training course.
How I have got to where I am today…
For as long as I can remember, every Sunday my mother and I used to go round to my grandmothers for lunch, however in the year running up to my 12th birthday we noticed that things had stated to change. It seemed as though she was gradually becoming slightly more forgetful over time. At first she was forgetting things like laying the table, but as the year went on she started to forget certain things we might have told her previously, and even things like what day it was. I definitely remember on the last occasion, just before my 12th birthday, she had forgotten we were coming over as she couldn’t remember what day it was. Knowing something was wrong my mother took her to see a medical professional, and that’s when we learnt my grandmother was diagnosed with early stages of dementia.
Given that my grandmother was already 65 years old and her progression was only going to get worse, my mother decided it was time for her to live with us so that she could be properly cared for. I remember we arranged for the back room in the lounge to be her bedroom and my mum decided to get some sliding doors fitted where the partition wall used to be, so that she could have her privacy when she wanted or needed it.
For her remaining years my mother cared for my grandmother in the peaceful settings of surroundings she was most familiar with, and although it meant my mother having to leave her full time job to be my grandmother’s full time care provider, not once did she have any regrets about it.
Ten years on, six since my grandmother passed, and my mother is now helping other families in similar situations where a loved one is suffering from dementia. She has also now had full care provider training and is now a qualified caregiver. Seeing how much support and love my grandmother was given in her final few years when things got really tough, and watching my mother support other families alike, has been a true inspiration, and I too have recently signed up to a local training provider, to become a caregiver like my mother.
It’s a great feeling to give back to the community, and helping those in need, and I would highly recommend a career in care, for those who maybe considering it.
