I recently watched a sad and heartwarming video on Now This while scrolling through my Facebook feed. The video was about a son, Joe Daley, documenting his mother’s critical condition known as Dementia. His mother, Molly, isn’t able to recognize her son due to Dementia. In the video Joe asks Molly if she knows who his mother is, she sadly looks at him and replies that she doesn’t know. Joe has been documenting the struggle his mother is going through with Dementia on his YouTube page. There is a short clip in which Joe is explaining to Molly how his father married her and later on how Molly gave birth to him. The mother replies that he is closer to Joe than he is to her, the son reiterates that he is in fact “Joe.” The mother can remember she has a son named Joe but sadly can’t recognize his face. The mother was diagnosed with Dementia for almost six years now. Joe says that the hardest thing about following his mother in this journey is watching her memory get worse. There is a sorrowful clip in which Joe is heartbroken and burst into tears saying that the most difficult part of all of this is the fact that his mother knows his name but fails to recognize her son’s face. After going through this terrible experience, Joe wants to make sure that the world is educated about the diagnosis. Joe claims that having his mother not know who he is has him feeling a bit empty, sort of like a death. He decides to put this pain aside to complete his mission, which is to provide people information about Dementia.

I found myself very teary eyed after watching the video. It was sad to watch Joe cry because his mother doesn’t recognize him. Joe has been with his mother throughout her journey, and it seems like she still fails to know that he is her son. To feel like someone who is dead, even though you are alive can make one’s life difficult and depressing. To have someone raise you and take care of you, only to be diagnosed with the condition that erases all the memories created is very tragic. I would honestly feel the same way if my mother forgot who I was and didn’t remember any of our memories. Joe is doing an amazing thing by trying to educate the world about Dementia so that people are more aware of this condition. He plans on putting aside the pain he goes through every day so that other people have more knowledge about Dementia. Joe is doing an amazing thing, and I hope that he can reach his mission and continue being by his mother’s side through her journey. How would you feel is you woke up one day and your mom didn’t even recognize who you were?

#JustThink