Gary Troy’s Caregiver Champion story: My mother, Angela Mary Troy, was born and raised in the heart of Dublin city near the four courts. She was a seamstress and dressmaker by trade and worked in Arnott's, the famous department store in town. She started performing on stage very young, and it wasn't long before she was the lead in most of the musicals at the famous Matthew Hall in Dublin. It was there that my father met her when he was at a show one evening. In fact, he never had the courage t [...]

Continue Reading

During the summer of 2021, my dad suffered a series of silent strokes that left him with vascular dementia. Prior to that, I used to joke that we were a “decentralized” family; the three of us (my mom, dad, and I) each happily lived alone and conducted our lives independently of one another despite being in the same city. My parents have been divorced for about 25 years, and for the majority of that time, there was radio silence between the two of them. Some time after the strokes, I received an [...]

Continue Reading

Caregiver Champion, Ella Rivera and caring for my husband I am the full-time care partner of my husband who was diagnosed with dementia in 2019. We have been married for 54 years and have one daughter Lenora who has been my rock during this difficult journey. This journey of caring for my husband, though exhausting, has also shown me that compassion and patience is so needed when caring for a loved one. I have also learned that self-less giving requires self-care and I try my best to find wa [...]

Continue Reading

Caring for Nella How do I explain Nella? Mom. My mom. Pure sunshine. With every smile, the sun rises. She sees the best in everyone, giving the Devil himself the benefit of the doubt. She pushed me to achieve from a very young age. Putting me in arts camps, swimming, music lessons, and the life changing professional ballet training at a Balanchine school, after seeing my eyes light up while watching the Nutcracker Suite with Pennsylvania Ballet at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia. [...]

Continue Reading

My mom was a badass. She went to Tuff's university and studied English. She studied abroad in London and was talented in many ways. She loved to paint, travel, ski, and spend time with family. She worked for Coca-cola, collaborating with people in the Olympics like Katarina Vik, Bruce, now Kaitlyn Jenner, talented artists like Elton John and Paula Abdul. She worked at IBM too. She did PR and advertising and was an amazing writer. Everyone loved her and she even played the guitar. She also was on [...]

Continue Reading