In this caregiver spotlight episode, meet millennial caregiver Lisette Carbajal who helps care with her dad who has Alzheimer’s. We talk about how this disease has impacted her college and young adult years and inspired her to be an ambassador for other young caregivers. Lisette was recently married and she shares how she and her family incorporated her dad into the ceremony even though he wasn’t well enough to attend.
Listen to the show: Caregiver Spotlight – Lisette Carbajal
Words of Encouragement
Each episode starts off with a few words of inspiration or motivation that is pulled from the Happy Healthy Caregiver Jar.
Links & Resources Mentioned
- Lisette is a first-generation college graduate. Her family immigrated from Peru. She attended the University of Virginia.
- Lisette included purple, the color representing the Alzheimer’s disease, into her wedding colors and in recognition of her dad who was unable to attend the ceremony.
- The picture Lisette is holding in this wedding picture is of her dad – one of his favorites.
- While Lisette didn’t have a father/daughter dance at the ceremony she and her mom danced to one of her parents favorite songs “Carmen Rosa” (which is also her mom’s name). Just days before the wedding, she and her mom received the sweetest reaction when they played this memorable song for her dad in the nursing home and shared what would be happening over the wedding weekend.
- Lisette’s waterpark story reminded me of an episode of This is Us when Jack takes Rebecca to the fair and only has nine bucks which resulted in an awkward first date.
- Lisette is an ambassador for the Scan Foundation’s Do YOU give a care? campaign. It’s a movement to improve the caregiving experience for Millennials.
- Elizabeth shares how her dad sang Three Dog’s Night “Joy to the World” (aka ‘Jeremiah was a Bullfrog’) to wake up her family.
- Details about this year’s National Caregiving Conference
- Here’s where you can connect with Lisette on Facebook.
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Favorite moments & quotes from the episode
“Most in college don’t probably talk to their parents as much but I was talking to my mom three times a day. My mom relied on me as someone she could talk to and express her frustrations.”
“It’s comforting to know that others can relate to my story and maybe at some point they felt alone but they don’t now.”
“I scroll through my phone and see old photos of him and to see how much he has deteriorated over the past year is hard to believe.”
“He started shaking his shoulders and had a big smile on his face. He just lit up. I consider that my father daughter dance.”
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