When John first began showing signs of dementia, his daughter, Julie, told herself it was typical aging. Everyone forgets things now and then, she reasoned. But when her father started insisting he could still drive safely despite getting lost twice in one week, she realized something deeper was happening. Still, whenever she gently brought it up, he laughed it off. “I’ve been driving longer than you’ve been alive,” he’d say. “I’m fine.” At first, Julie tried explaining the f

When Mark lost his wife of fifty-three years, the world went quiet. He stopped going to his woodworking club. His daily phone calls with friends trailed off. Family dinners became shorter. His daughter, Lily, noticed the silence first — not just in the house, but in his voice. “He’s there,” she told a friend, “but he’s not really with  us anymore.” When early signs of cognitive decline followed, the loneliness deepened. Conversations confused him; visits exhausted him. He beg