Amy says she was ill-prepared for how muchgriefshe experienced before her father passed away in 2015.
You have to learn how to grieve losing someone while theyre still alive, she tells SELF.
You have to learn to cope with the new reality, and then another change comes, Amy says.
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When he passed, it was a whole different onslaught of grief.
Amy wishes she had seen a grief counselor ortherapistwhile she was going through this.
It would have been so helpful, she says.
Emmy tells SELF that helping to care for her mother is difficult and emotionally depleting.
However, some families aren’t that lucky, she says.
Alzheimer’s affects everyone differently.
Having a loved one with Alzheimers disease can be incredibly isolating, Amy says.
The most comforting feeling I found was talking to someone who could relate, she says.
It made me feel not so alone.
Amy says she even got in touch with two famous people who had been through a similar experience.
I reached out not because they were famous but because they had been where I was, she says.
They both wrote me back, and it meant so much.
Emmy also emphasizes the importance of this kind of support.
you might reach the hotline at 866-232-8484.
The extent of resources out there for those dealing with Alzheimers and their loved ones might surprise you.
Peggy M.s husband, Tom, was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimers in 2012 at the age of 57.
(Early-onset Alzheimersmeans a person shows symptoms before theyre 65.)
Our localAlzheimers Associationoffers some wonderful programs, Peggy tells SELF.
We attend support groups and a memory cafe weekly.
We have made lifelong friends through these activities, Peggy says.
This contributed to her becoming completely overwhelmed, she says.
If someone came over and just said, Go!
I would have, she says.
These programs help out families so much, she says.
It would have been great to know of those.
Financially, we had no idea, Cecelia says.
My grandmother passed away in 2012, and just last year we paid the nursing home off.
It takes a financial toll on the whole family.
Alzheimers hits you hard financially, she tells SELF.
Jeff was the main breadwinner in our family.
He qualified for social security disability, but it pays only a small fraction of what he was earning.
The couple currently has three kids in college, and Jeffs parents live with them.
My days start at 6:30 A.M. and do not end until 10 P.M.
It gets pretty exhausting.
I, too, have good days and bad days, and that is OK!
On my bad days, I acknowledge it and tell myself tomorrow will be better, Kim says.
There will be good days and bad.
Now Emmy tries to savor the experiences she and her mom can still share.
Appreciate your loved one every single day, Emmy says.
Be grateful for how much they can do in that day, in that moment.
