Team Jackie Stroh

My name is Maggie and My sisters and I here to fundraise in honor of my mother and her birthday, my parents 35th anniversary, and to assist my father in her care and his needs as well.

As you may know, my mom was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s at the age of 55. The first few years living with this diagnosis were spent making some incredible memories with my mom. These past few years, particularly the past eight months, have been less kind to us. Mom showed significant and rapid decline in her cognitive abilities, having some intense episodes, and major sundowning.

In December, we started seeing a new doctor that has truly been amazing in helping to keep mom at home for a little longer, and assisting in helping to deal with some of her episodes. While we can’t be 100% certain without a myriad of CT scans and MRI’s, currently unable to be completed due to mom’s state, we are guessing it is something closer to Frontal Temporal Dementia, or that her cognitive decline could also be from a series of almost undetectable strokes due to trauma or stress.

This past March, mom was admitted to the hospital due to an aggressive episode in which we were not able to safely handle at home. She stayed for 2 weeks where they got her stabilized and calm.

Since she’s returned home she has had a handful of episodes, and has still continued to decline. She has stopped responding well to my older sister, who has been her primary caregiver, along with my dad. She will most often become upset with the sight of someone that may appear as a caregiver, as she seems to really prefer to only be with my dad.

Caregiving is an extremely selfless, full time job. It takes a lot of patience, strength, and is mentally and physically draining. It is exhausting, and is a 24/7 commitment. For the past six years, my dad had been the sole financial provider for him and my mom, and in the last six months my dad has had to sacrifice a lot of opportunities and projects for his company to ensure he is able to be available to care for my mom.

We have done and are continuing to do everything we can to properly care for mom, which has become increasingly harder. As a family, we have come to the decision that it is time to move her into a memory care facility that has 24/7 access to nurses and caregivers. This will ensure mom is getting the care and attention she needs in a safe environment. After narrowing down some options, we have chosen one that we feel is the best fit for mom.

Which leads us here. This year for mom’s birthday and for John and Jackie’s 35th anniversary, we’d like to do a fundraiser that will impact her and my dad directly. Money raised will go directly to my dad for various expenses, including mom’s memory care facility costs (roughly will be around $8k/monthly), groceries, rent, self care, etc.

We’re hoping that this fundraiser will help to make things a little less stressful and difficult during this extremely emotional time.

Thank you to everyone for your continued support.