Heartbreaking story of one family's journey with dementia

Book signing proves a success for author as she tells of her family’s journey with dementia in new book

The heartbreaking story of one family’s experiences with dementia took centre stage on Saturday as author J Shannell Evans held a book signing and talk to mark the book’s launch.

“I’m trying my very best not to be emotional,” said Shannell to her audience, as she went on to tell how dementia had affected her grandmother, her mother, her brother and her sister across the generations. Two of her aunts also experienced dementia. She added: “Writing this book, it was as if when I finished it, a weight lifted off me. I felt it was so important to write this story, and I hope it will help others.”

Readers queued up to buy the book and have it signed by the author during the event – with many also sharing their own experiences with family members who had dementia.

The author was joined by Wence Martin, of the Alzheimer’s Assocation, who said: “Alzheimer’s is the leading dementia diagnosis in The Bahamas - it is estimated that 2,000 Bahamians since 2023, and we know that is a very conservative estimate. When we look at the causes of dementia and whether it’s hereditary or whether there’s some genetic factors, we don’t know – and the experts haven’t proven that there is or that there isn’t a genetic link.”

He added: “The projection is by 2030, there will be 6,000 persons in The Bahamas – once again we think that is a conservative estimate – with dementia. I celebrate Mrs Evans in being able to pen a book and raise awareness.”

Expert Dr Krystle Rolle also spoke to attendees, giving advice on dealing with dementia. “To date, about 3% of men and women aged 65 and above would be diagnosed with dementia, and nearly half of persons living at age 85 and above will be diagnosed with dementia. Based on World Health Organisation standards in 2025, they estimate about 2.26% of deaths in our elderly population are due to dementia.”

She added: “Dementia is a broad umbrella of cognitive impairment. The most common in the world is Alzheimer’s disease, although in The Bahamas the most common is vascular dementia. Persons end up getting vascular dementia through blood compromise to the brain, through stress, hypertension, and diabetes. It involves progressive brain cell degeneration which eventually affects memory, thinking and behaviour.”

Experts gave advice on warning signs for people to watch for, and guidance on how they could be diagnosed and reach out to support networks.

“I do hope this book can make a difference to people,” said Shannell. “Writing it really reminded me of all that we have gone through as a family, things even I had forgotten, and I hope it is helpful to readers who might be going through the same thing.”

The Long Nightmare: My Family’s Journey With Dementia is available in paperback at Logos bookstore in Harbour Bay, and is also available as a paperback or an ebook on Amazon.

This is the latest book from Shannell after having previously published books in a range of genres – including poetry, drama, inspiration, mystery, children’s fiction, young adult fiction and non-fiction. She is also the CEO of Joan Shannell Evans Books Publishing. She now lives in Nassau, and is the chief financial officer at her home church, having worked in church ministry for 38 years.

To learn more, visit joanshannellevansbooks.com.

BOOK LAUNCH: Author hopes story of dealing with dementia in her family will help others in their journey

Joan Shannell Evans with her new book, The Long Nightmare: My Family’s Journey With Dementia 

Author Joan Shannell Evans tells her most personal story yet in her latest book – which tells of the devastation wrought by dementia on members of her family.

The Long Nightmare: My Family’s Journey With Dementia tells her own story – and that of family members throughout her life who suffered from a condition that robs people of their memories, their identities, and their connection to their family.

Joan will be holding a book signing and author talk at Logos bookstore in Harbour Bay, Nassau, Bahamas, on Saturday, May 30, to mark the launch of the book, from 11am-2pm – which will include the opportunity for attendees to hear advice from medical experts on Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

The book is a heartbreaking tale – starting when Joan was just a child growing up in Andros, trying to understand why her grandmother could no longer recognise the family and the tragedy of the end of her life.

It was a pattern that would repeat with Joan’s mother, her brother and even today with her sister.

“My mother and I lived on Andros. My mother suffered from it for more than ten years,” said Joan. “She had depression and that led into Alzheimer’s. I would bring her up to Nassau for treatments. When I started caring for my mother, I was just in my 20s and there may be young people today who are going through this. I hope my book can be a source of information and a source of comfort, and bring an awareness that some families go through that.”

For Joan, every day with her mother marked a countdown to when the condition would affect her – while with her sister, the condition manifests very differently. She said: “What my mother had was Sundown Syndrome. As the sun starts to fade in the evening, people with the condition become aggressive. There was a medication that the doctor gave her for that and we would see it is 4 o’clock, it is time for the medicine. For my sister, sometimes it lasts through the whole day.”

Joan said she hoped the book would be helpful to others going through the same journey – but also said that writing the book was for her a way to deal with the challenges she was going through.

“When I am under emotional strain, I write for comfort. I remember when my brother was in his last stage, his son was asking if this happened to everyone. I was telling him you are too young but your grandmother had this, so we had to document this for our family, and I also did it as a way to relieve my emotions. I hope that people read this and see this happens to other people too. It just shows you need help and support.”

She added: “I relived a lot of emotions. Those in the house with the patient have the burden of it – and that hasn’t really changed over the years. I came to the realisation that there were times I felt annoyed with family members and I realised they were doing the best they can. Writing the book helped me get to a place where I could release those emotions – and writing it helped me to put into perspective some of the things that happened with my mother.”

This is the latest book from Joan after having previously published books in a range of genres – including poetry, drama, inspiration, mystery, children’s fiction, young adult fiction and non-fiction. She is also the CEO of Joan Shannell Evans Books Publishing. She now lives in Nassau, and is the chief financial officer at her home church, having worked in church ministry for 38 years.

The book is available on Amazon in both print and ebook formats, and is available as a paperback at Logos, in Harbour Bay, New Providence.

Also in attendance at the event will be experts to give advice, with Wence Martin from the Alzheimer’s Association in The Bahamas to speak about the organisation’s work, and Dr Krystle Rolle speaking about dementia.

The Long Nightmare: My Family's Journey With Dementia is available on Amazon here.

 

Joan Shanell Evans’ mother, Mabel Evans, who suffered from dementia, including Sundown Syndrome

BOOK REVIEW: Growing Up Newry, by C.A. Newry

 

Growing Up Newry, by C.A. Newry

This is more than a childhood memoir. 

C.A. Newry may be writing about growing up, but he asks uncomfortable questions about the world in which he became the man he is. 

Too often, we look back with a nostalgic view, a sepia-tinged perspective of a world that was not quite what we wished it might have been. 

C.A. Newry instead looks with an unvarnished eye, not glossing over the awkward facts or the uncomfortable situations. 

He recites the people he remembers like the beads on a rosary, counting them off as too many went to fates that left them in prison or dead by the road. 

He recalls the way people treated those who were gay in the neighbourhood, complete with the uncomfortable language that goes with that. 

And through it all, you sense the path he took to become the man of today, full of this bundle of memories that don't fit together as a happy journey. 

C.A. Newry is well known in The Bahamas as a raconteur, a polemicist - I tend to think of him as the court jester, able to wrap uncomfortable truths up inside a laugh, a joke, as if to say look what I just made you think about, but also look, I made you smile. 

That wit and wisdom wrapped together are to be found in these pages. 

Do we learn who the author really is after reading this? No, but then it is clear he is still on that journey - still learning, still making others think, and yes, still smiling. 

Altered Instinct Rating: 5/5

Growing Up Newry is available on Amazon here.

Inklings Press helping The Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian

When Hurricane Dorian hit The Bahamas, it caused devastation to the islands of Abaco and Grand Bahama. The final death toll is expected to be high, with one former prime minister saying he expects it to be hundreds in Abaco alone.

Inklings Press has a long-standing connection to The Bahamas - it's where editor-in-chief Leo McBride lives, and some of the stories we have published are set there. And we want to help - so we're giving you something in the hopes that you might give a donation in return to those who need it.

There is so much that needs to be done to help people as they recover from the storm - with hundreds likely to be in shelters or tent cities for months to come.

So we at the Inklings would like to encourage readers to donate to one of the organisations based there that is committed to helping people over the long term.

We've chosen Lend A Hand Bahamas for several reasons - they have partnered with Equality Bahamas and the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas to distribute aid. They also have a fundraising link for donations - which we think will make international donations for our readers easier.

The link to the donations website is: https://lendahandbahamas.networkforgood.com

There are other ways, however, and the Bahamian government has set up a donations page rounding up several other ways you can give if you prefer: https://www.bahamas.com/relief

To encourage people to drop a little in the tin, we're giving away our entire collection of books in Kindle format. Every single book we have released will be free on Amazon from Friday, September 20, until the end of Tuesday, September 24. The links to each are below.

We won't get a penny out of this offer - but we hope it will encourage you to give those pennies to those who need it most. You don't have to, of course - the books are free if you donate or not, but whatever you can give to Lend A Hand Bahamas is appreciated.

We thank each and every one of you for any support you are able to give - even if it's just sharing our posts to help spread the word.

The links to the free books (offer runs from September 20-24)

Tales From The Tower: mybook.to/Tower

Tales From The Universe: mybook.to/TalesUniverse

Tales From Alternate Earths: mybook.to/alternate

Tales of Wonder: mybook.to/Wonder

Tales From The Underground: mybook.to/Uground

Tales From Alternate Earths 2: mybook.to/alternateearths2

Tales of Magic & Destiny: mybook.to/MagicDestiny

Hurricane Dorian and The Bahamas

An aerial view of the destruction in Abaco

I live in The Bahamas - and if you've been following the news, you'll know that part of The Bahamas was badly hit by Hurricane Dorian earlier this month. 

For those who don't know, my day job is as a journalist here, so things have been hectic covering the build-up to the storm, the impact of the hurricane itself and the aftermath. 

Even now, many days after the storm, we don't know the full impact it had on the north-western islands of Grand Bahama and Abaco. 

I've been lucky. Where I live in New Providence, all we had was a bit of wind and a bit of flooding for those areas already prone to such. We didn't get hit hard. 

The same can't be said for Grand Bahama and Abaco. One of our reporters, Rashad Rolle, along with a photographer, Terrel W Carey Sr, spent the hurricane in Abaco, underneath the storm as it ripped the island apart. I can't tell you adequately what it was like to be on the island during that - but Rashad can. You can read that story here.

Both of those were out of contact for days. Communication with Grand Bahama and Abaco was difficult - the phone networks got blown out by the storm, and the rush to try and contact family and friends in its aftermath left the remainder overloaded and clogged with traffic. 

The short version of the storm's aftermath is this: Many are dead. Many are missing. The official death toll so far is 50, but all officials say that is expected to rise considerably. One former prime minister says he believes the death toll is in the hundreds. 

What happens next is the recovery - Grand Bahama and Abaco are just two of many islands in The Bahamas, so there's a real split between how the rest of the country fared and how those two did. As far as the rest is concerned, it's not quite business as usual, in the sense that people are still trying to support relief efforts and track down missing family and friends - 1,300 are missing at the last official count by government. But in terms of the country welcoming people back again to visit, business as usual is the best thing that can be done to help those affected. 

People evacuated from affected islands will need jobs, will need places to live, and the tourism trade will help them do that. 

So if you were considering coming to The Bahamas and have thought twice because of the hurricane? Don't cancel. Unless you were going to one of those two islands, your visit will be no different than it was before - and it's one of the best ways you can help people here too. 

For those who want to help in other ways, the Bahamian government has rounded up a number of approved ways of donating either goods or money that will help the relief effort. You can find that at bahamas.com/relief. 

There is also an excellent local group of citizens who have worked tirelessly to provide relief, and they have a GoFundMe that has already raised more than $1m. The link for that is here.

Along with friends over at Inklings Press, we hope to do something that will help a little too - of which more details when that's finalised. 

Ultimately, my family and I are fine - and that makes us the lucky ones. There are a lot of people who cannot say the same, and I urge you to donate anything you can spare to help out those left without homes or without members of their families. 

The Bahamas needs whatever help you can give. Thank you.