2008 “Give a Caregiver a Break” RUNNER-UP: Linda
"Our Turn To Help"
My husband Mike and I got married in 1973. I was 18, and he was 18. Now, 35 years later, we are still happily married. Mike's parents, Beatrice and William Elliott, are wonderful to me. They were like my own parents.
My mother-in-law is 88 years old, and my father-in-law is 89. Approximately six months ago, my mother-in-law's memory started to fade. She was diagnosed with dementia and was no longer able to care for herself and her husband. Although there are three other children besides my husband, nobody accepted the fact that they needed help—except for my husband and me. My father-in-law's mind is still good, but being 89 years old, he needs help with a lot of things.
I asked God to give me the strength to take care of them and moved them into our home. Some of their other children thought this may not be a good idea and felt that my mother-in-law should be placed in a nursing home. I told them that this was not going to happen and promised my father-in-law that this wouldn't happen. How do you separate people who have been married for 65 years?
I work a full-time job in addition to caring for them, which is also like a second full-time job. My husband is wonderful with them and helps 100 percent with caring for them also. I feel blessed to be able to do this for them. They helped me and my husband in our younger days when needed, and now it is our turn to help them.
The duties we provide for them are bathing, cooking, washing clothes, taking them to doctors' appointments, giving them their medications—getting the best care possible for them. When I go to get my hair done, I take her with me to get her hair done. We take them out in the evening to get an ice cream cone, which is a real joy: It's like watching two little kids in a candy store.
We have enjoyed every minute with them and don't regret doing this at all. Caring for the elderly is a very challenging job, but in your heart it is also very rewarding to be able to do this.
—Linda Elliott, Canton,OH
Winner of $500 in free respite care
From Home Instead Senior Care
Cares for mother/father-in-law Beatrice/William Elliott