Dementia is not just about the person who gets sick. It also “hits” the family, the caregiver, and even the friend that the cognitively impaired patient no longer recognizes. A lonely journey for all, with no clear destination. “It is harder than cancer”, describes the ygeiamou people who care with all their strength for their loved ones with Alzheimer’s disease. Caring for patients with dementia requires stamina, stubbornness, and enormous patience – not to “overcome” the disease, but to earn the caregiver a smile from the person they are looking after, in a small moment. Like the moment that Mr. George Polydoros gives to his wife with sincere love, Mrs. Eleni Karli to her mother every morning, but also the psychologist Vasiliki Exarchakou to the caregivers who ask for her support, as well as the Professor of Neurology Nikos Skarmeas to patients and caregivers who “thirst” for care themselves. Because in the void left by memory, care, patience, and small smiles become moments of deep human connection.

“Dementia affects 1.5 million people in Greece” – Nikos Skarmeas, Professor of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Aeginetion Hospital

Dementia is a serious disorder of cognitive functions, affecting memory, perception, understanding, orientation and often behaviour. The most common form is Alzheimer’s disease (affecting 70-80% of cases), while the others are rarer, including vascular dementia, Parkinson’s dementia, etc. Rarer are those with rapid progression, such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.