Being There for a Friend with Dementia – BE LIKE FRANK

The team’s been busy here, working on a new two-part resource for families and friends with a loved one living from dementia. As Gabi noted on our call the other day (and I’m paraphrasing), “This one is different… I don’t see anyone else out there talking about it.”

That’s saying something considering Gabi helps run Dementia: The Journey Ahead and two other support resources on Facebook, with memberships totaling well over 70,000.
This new resource organically sprouted from a unique source, however — the clip you’re about to watch below.

Being There for a Friend with Dementia

In this short preview from our Frontotemporal Dementia Documentary, Gene Moriarty’s good friend Frank Murphy takes a walk through the Beverly neighborhood of Chicago with both Gene and Gene’s daughter Katie (the interviewer for this portion of the film).

Frank sparked the new idea here, simply leading by example. In the clip, he tells us how he made the decision to regularly (and we’re talking like clockwork) visit Gene and add some very special time into both of their lives during this trying period — about two years into Gene’s diagnosis.

Now it’s not an easy thing to do, there’s no sugarcoating it, but Frank shows what’s possible with the right effort, and perhaps most importantly, the right mindset.

Our new resource focuses specifically on friendships and family, giving perspective on the unenviable situation a dementia diagnosis provides, and with new ways to navigate the difficult relationships landscape it presents as well.

Until it’s ready, we hope you’ll find inspiration from Frank’s brief story here, and if you are a friend or family member of a person living with dementia right now, we wholeheartedly encourage you to follow this mantra: BE LIKE FRANK!

If you do, please come back either to the Journal post here, or over to the video on our Frontotemporal Dementia YouTube Channel, and let us know in the comments so we can spread the word.

A Note on This Clip’s Music

The music to open this track is from the song The Show Goes On by Bruce Hornsby & The Range. To listen to the full song, press play below or please view it on the official Bruce Hornsby YouTube Channel to show Bruce your support.

The song is not officially part of the documentary at this point (we’re a bit away from finalizing any music), but Bruce has always been an inspiration to me. That’s one of my all time favorite songs, and I think it just fits in really well with some of the content in the FTD Doc. Much love to Bruce, always grateful.

— Eric

Eric Battersby
President
Change the World Films