When Mark Seymour found out that his dad, Ronnie, had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, he was speechless. But Mark didn’t need words. As a photographer, he needed only his camera. He made up his mind then that he would chronicle his father’s descent into dementia through the medium he loved: photography. As Mark explains on his website, it was a way for him to
‘...take something positive from this situation and use it to help raise the awareness of...what dementia does to a person and their family.’
The photographs document Ronnie’s 4 year journey, starting at home then moving to the hospital and eventually the final stages of his care. They contain a heartbreaking beauty, capturing the struggle of a man trying to hold onto his mind and body. But they also capture a man surrounded by love, and the glimmer of his enduring spirit that remained until the very end:
‘[E]ven as the Dementia stole many aspects of the man we knew and loved away from us right to the end everyone would comment on the twinkle in his eye!’ says Mark.
Mark’s dad has since passed away, but the pictures are serving their purpose to keep his memory alive and to generate awareness about what life is like for an Alzheimer’s patient and their loved ones. What a stunning example of how God can use an individual talent to bring forth such beauty from something as sorrowful as Alzheimer’s.
Psalm 18:28 ‘For you will light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.’
You can see Mark Seymour’s full Remember Me photo series below:
h/t: The Mighty
Featured Image Credit: Youtube
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