Caregiver Champion, Ella Rivera and caring for my husband I am the full-time care partner of my husband who was diagnosed with dementia in 2019. We have been married for 54 years and have one daughter Lenora who has been my rock during this difficult journey. This journey of caring for my husband, though exhausting, has also shown me that compassion and patience is so needed when caring for a loved one. I have also learned that self-less giving requires self-care and I try my best to find wa [...]

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Caring for Nella How do I explain Nella? Mom. My mom. Pure sunshine. With every smile, the sun rises. She sees the best in everyone, giving the Devil himself the benefit of the doubt. She pushed me to achieve from a very young age. Putting me in arts camps, swimming, music lessons, and the life changing professional ballet training at a Balanchine school, after seeing my eyes light up while watching the Nutcracker Suite with Pennsylvania Ballet at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia. [...]

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My mom was a badass. She went to Tuff's university and studied English. She studied abroad in London and was talented in many ways. She loved to paint, travel, ski, and spend time with family. She worked for Coca-cola, collaborating with people in the Olympics like Katarina Vik, Bruce, now Kaitlyn Jenner, talented artists like Elton John and Paula Abdul. She worked at IBM too. She did PR and advertising and was an amazing writer. Everyone loved her and she even played the guitar. She also was on [...]

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I cared for my Mother, Madelyn for almost thirteen years until she passed away in September of 2023.  I also started a nonprofit called Mind What Matters that supports underserved Caregivers. [...]

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My Story 4 years ago Ben & I were a golden gay couple, social, successful and super-happy! Two years ago I knew nothing about Lewy Body Dementia, Alzheimer or any other degenerative neurological disease! All I was concerned with was keeping my husband safe from Covid since he was in the “high risk category” (pre-existing health issues & 80) and he was still working at Saks 5th Avenue, until he was forced to quit because at that time, there were no vaccinations available and he could have died [...]

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