BEcoming A CHILD

Alzheimer's disease is a chronic neurodegenerative disease which causes memory loss: a person with Alzheimer may not recognizes familiar people or remember places and things. Over the time seemingly simple activities of daily living become a great obstacle as routines are forgotten and motor control deteriorates. Language is reduced to simple phrases, single words or complete loss of speech. In the later stages of the disease the person is completely dependent upon family and caregivers: this is the social aspect of Alzheimer’s disease. There are approximately 600.000 people with Alzheimer's disease in Italy and 18% of them need continuous support by a caregiver.* And yet there is much to investigate about this disease in order to raise its awareness and improve care for patients and support for their families. Alzheimer's disease transforms the patient into another person to the extent that there is no trace of the original person left. There are some common symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, but it is important to remember that everyone is unique. My grandmother fought against the disease for 7 years until her death. This project documents the last months of her life. *data taken from Censis-Aima research (2016)