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
