I’m not suffering with dementia, I’m living, it’s not the end, but the beginning.

Thanks to Sally Goldsmith (@salthepoet) from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (@jrf_uk) for sharing on her YouTube channel.

Commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, this song was performed by older people at their ‘A Better Life’ event in December 2013.

It was made from the real words of Agnes Houston of the Scottish Dementia Working Group.

Sung by Plaxton Court choir, Scarborough and Osbaldwick Community Choir, York the solo by Jean Crabb from Hartrigg Oaks, York, it was written by Sally Goldsmith and arranged and musically directed by Val Regan.

4 Responses

  1. mason4233 December 21, 2013 / 8:16 pm

    I’ve yet to meet anyone with dementia that doesn’t suffer as a result ! Not worded very well in my humble opinion

    • @mason4233 April 4, 2014 / 6:17 pm

      I live well with it, but I suffer ! Every time I loose a little more, I suffer, every time I hear my wife cry, I suffer, when it see a tear in my daughters eye, I suffer, to know I won’t be with my wife in old age as we planned , I suffer. Any one with a illness with no cure will suffer, this doesn’t stop you trying to live your best but you still suffer quietly or otherwise. I’m not a sufferer ! But I do suffer ! One has to try and live well with it !

  2. Sally Goldsmith March 21, 2014 / 4:29 pm

    Hallo. I am Sally who wrote the song – but out of the words of a person who has dementia and who campaigns on behalf of those with dementia. Yes – suffering is a apart of it and I didn’t wish to diminish this – but Agnes in her words chose not be defined as a ‘sufferer’ but someone adjusting to her new life.

  3. Shibley Rahman March 22, 2014 / 5:21 pm

    Thanks very much Sally. Very honoured you visited my blog.

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