Why subscribe?
Hello! I’m Jessica C. Guthrie and I’m so grateful you’re here!
I am an only child, daughter of a single mother and at the age of 26 I was thrust into becoming the full-time caregiver for my mother who was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s Disease at the age of 66.
I became a “caregiver” to my mother in 2014 just as I was starting my career, living thousands of miles away in Texas while my mom was in Virginia. At the beginning of my journey I was so lonely, filled with sadness and frustration and resentment…and I did not THINK anyone understood what I was going through. I was holding so much grief and didn’t even know that is what it was called. But I did what I knew best—- I put my head down and got to work doing the very best I could and leveraging my experiences as an educator to create new systems, routines and structures to navigate the early phases of this disease.
I became a caregiver at 26. I was (and still am) a young, Black, woman and I did not see people that looked like me talking openly about caregiving and no one was definitely not talking about forms of dementia. I started sharing on social media deep insights into my life as a caregiver of my mom with Alzheimer’s Disease to illuminate what it really looked like to be a caregiver of a parent, navigating a terminal neurodegenerative disease… and to also share so other people who looked like me and with similar experiences would not have to feel so alone. People have repeatedly shared with me, "seeing you share about your mom has helped me not feel so alone on my journey with my loved one.”
I’m migrating over here to Substack to expand our community— and to expand the ways in which I can share my knowledge, perspectives and experiences as we continue to navigate year ten and counting and all the peaks and valleys of Alzheimer’s Disease. By subscribing to our Substack community you will get:
Real, honest and vulnerable insights into my daily journey as a caregiver
Intentional reflections on lessons learned coupled with advice & perspectives to expand your own knowledge and understanding of this disease and how to support caregivers in your life
Access to the “how” we do things to thrive will navigating this disease—- from recipes, my templates, my approach to setting up caregivers, etc
Opportunities to connect directly with me around our shared experiences as caregivers and/or those connected to caregivers.
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