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The Dementia Cloud
- By Mariah Burton Nelson
- visuals
- 2 Comments

About the Artwork
“Two of the greatest risks for dementia are age and family history, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. Those of us who have cared for elderly relatives have witnessed the devastation of this disease up close and personal, and it can be scary. This work tells a healthcare story many of us experience but few of us express: feeling taunted by a future that might include dementia–and monitoring our own memory lapses through this lens of fear.”
A former Stanford University and professional basketball player, Mariah Burton Nelson has written seven books, including The Stronger Women Get, The More Men Love Football. She has written essays and articles for The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, Newsweek and other publications. She’s won several writing awards and has appeared on national television and radio shows. Since starting to draw five years ago, at age sixty, she has had comics published in Solstice Literary Magazine, Passager and other literary journals.
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2 thoughts on “The Dementia Cloud”
Your (allegedly) “simple” graphics say so much—capturing such an almost universal experience and emotion embodying loss, fear, and the reality we experience in relation to becoming the aging adult after parental loss…Thank you for sharing.
Hi Carol, So glad this rang true for you. Stay tuned for a whole series of these; the Dementia Cloud has more to say! I’m kidding – I think. But “the cloud is real,” as another reader put it. Thanks for your kind comments.