In this episode of the Happy Healthy Caregiver podcast, meet Lauren Dykovitz. Lauren is a writer and author, who lives in New Jersey with her husband and two black labs. Lauren’s mom was diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimer’s in July 2010 at the age of 62. Lauren was only 25 years old at the time. She quit her full-time job and became a caregiver for her mom at age 28. Although her mom passed in April 2020, it is Lauren’s mission to help others on their Alzheimer’s journey by sharing stories and lessons from her personal experience. In many ways, she feels like she is just getting started! In this episode we chat about what it’s like to include your mother with Early Onset Alzheimer’s in the wedding-planning process, why she started her blog, giving voice to the hard emotions of caregiving, and storytelling as a form of advocacy.
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Listen to the show: Lauren Dykovitz – Caregiver Spotlight
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Words of Encouragement
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Links & Resources Mentioned
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- Other podcast episodes mentioned:
- Alzheimer’s Association Website
- Ice Cream in the Cupboard, a film by Pat Moffett
- Lauren’s Recent Instagram Account Post
- Lauren’s first book: Learning to Weather the Storm: A Story of Life, Love, and Alzheimer’s
- Lauren’s second book: When Only Love Remains: Surviving My Mom’s Battle with Early Onset Alzheimer’s
- AlzAuthors is one of our HHC partners
- All of the prompts from the lightning round segment of the show are borrowed from Elizabeth’s book Just For You: a Daily Self-Care Journal.
- Handwriting gifts on Etsy
- Connect with Lauren:
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Favorite moments & quotes from the episode
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