Who Are You?

Reflections of a Dementia Survivor
All proceeds from our fund raising  go to Alzheimer organizations to help in the fight against dementia.  

To my Susan and my Belinda
Forever young as we grow old

Reflections from a Motorbike
Narrated by Chloe

My mummy and daddy both suffered from Early On Set Dementia. My mummy died, my daddy survived.

This is a story of my daddy’s thoughts as he reflected on life before, during and after the years caring for mummy as she struggled through the last five years of her life. Those reflections came in a series of verses as we rode the roads of Australia on our motorbike. They came in many places, sometimes on a lonely outback road, sometimes overlooking a stunning panorama and sometimes just in the late emptiness of night when memories from the past often visit. They came as simple words that slowly joined together over ten years and many, many kilometres. Those time that has now given daddy his understanding of life’s meaning.

My daddy is neither writer nor poet, but a man who now loves the simplicity and freedom of life on the road. His hope is that these simple verses may give some insight of a person who suffered, but survived, the loss of a soulmate to dementia.

May our heartfelt love and warmth reach every dementia carer and survivor, and may their reflections be kind to them.

Chloe

Seven Reflections 

The Beginning
You silly thing

The Life
Bit by bit

The Morning
Just a man

The Heartache
Who do you see?

The Time
Choice

The Waiting
Forgive me

The Parting
 Now I know

Foreword to Who Are You

No one is more knowledgeable about the experience of living with dementia than a person who has dedicated their life to caring for someone with it.

Ken Eaton spent five years of his life dedicated entirely to caring for his wife after her diagnosis with early-onset dementia. In those five years he saw the life of the woman he married change. Her memory of him, their marriage, their children all began to blur, but his love for her never faltered.

Grief is an unwelcome but important part of life and loss.  If there is one thing we can learn from the poems of Ken, it is that in some cases, grief can inspire some truly amazing things.

Ken took his experience of heartbreak, together with his faithful dog Chloe, and embarked on motorbike journeys around Australia just like he and his wife dreamed of when they were young. Over the years, he evaluated, reflected and transcribed his reflections into this small, heartfelt book.

Ken’s reflections helped in his own recovery from grief and loss, and to make sense of his time living with dementia.  In publishing this book, he hopes to help others caring for those with dementia; to remind them that no matter the pain they endure, they will survive, and their lives will go on.

Rhonda Parker
Chief Executive Officer
Alzheimer’s WA