3 weeks ago I lost my grandmother to dementia and want to build something meaningful
Hi everyone. I’ve been part of this community for the past year, reading so many of your posts. This community taught me a lot about dementia and also gave me warmth during a difficult time.
My grandmother passed away 3 weeks ago at 95 years old after living with dementia for the past 2 years. We are from South Asia, where many people still don’t know much about dementia, and there isn’t even a proper term for it in our national language. Most people simply dismiss it as “normal aging.”
About 2 years ago, my grandmother’s behavior started changing. Since I live abroad for college, my mom would tell me about it over phone calls, and I began researching on my own. That’s when I realized it was likely dementia. Unfortunately, there wasn’t even a proper diagnosis process available in my hometown.
Thankfully, my parents were able to become her full-time caregivers, and she passed peacefully surrounded by family. I didn’t get to see her one last time, which is something I’ll always carry with me, but she was deeply loved.
Over these past two years, I’ve seen firsthand how devastating this disease can be not only for the person living with dementia, but also for the caregivers. I studied computer science because I wanted to build something meaningful that could change lives. After graduating, I’ve spent the past year feeling lost and unemployed, but recently I’ve started feeling like maybe this is my calling: to build something in the dementia space that could help either patients or caregivers.
Since my background is in software, I’d love to hear directly from this community:
What are some apps, tools, or software you wish existed that would genuinely help dementia patients or caregivers in daily life?
Even small frustrations or ideas would mean a lot to hear. Thank you.