Illustration created for Health Union, LLC Spinal Muscular Atrophy Community “Grandma Forgets Sometimes”.

The tone of the Alzheime'r’s community is somber as they face the challenges of dementia as both a caregiver and a patient, realistic about the struggles and complicated emotions that accompany anticipatory grief, and passionate about pushing back against the stigma of feeling unable to talk about the disease.

In this article, an individual with Alzheimer’s writes about how important it is to explain to grandchildren what is going on with their grandparent with Alzheimer’s in age appropriate ways as the disease progresses.

This imagery was a challenge as children were not typically permitted to be shown on the Alzheimer’s site, however working with the team I conceptualized a workaround by showing a grandparent talking to a grandchild hiding in the foliage of the squash garden as they work.