Alzheimer’s Fundraise Success

Part of my personal and professional growth this year is to learn how to do new things technologically (see: my blog, my whole website, my Instagram account, therapy via telehealth…).

Adding to that list, I decided to create my first online fundraiser. Facebook made it simple to implement, so this was definitely one of the easiest new tech tasks I learned this year.

I created a fundraiser for the Alzheimer’s Association because Alzheimer's has affected my own family members, my former hospice patients, and I currently support Alzheimer's family caregivers in my therapy practice. I see these caregivers who give so much of themselves to their loved one and deal with so many difficult emotions throughout this prolonged journey, and I’m grateful that I get to support them in therapy. It can be exhausting for them. In our therapy time together, we work on self-care while caring for others, balancing conflicting life priorities, stress from family relationships, acute grief for the losses they’re experiencing presently, anticipatory grief for what’s coming next, and more.

I felt especially compelled to fundraise for Alzheimer’s after I learned some more facts about the disease and the financial toll it takes. Of the total lifetime cost of caring for someone with dementia, 70 percent is borne by families—either through out-of-pocket health and long-term care expenses or from the value of unpaid care. Currently, Alzheimer’s and other dementias cost the nation and Americans $305 billion. By 2050, these costs could rise as high as $1.1 trillion. According to the PBS documentary Alzheimer’s: Every Minute Counts, “It’s going to sink the healthcare economy, and in turn, sink the national economy… to avoid that, we have to fund the research to find the cure.” (Alzheimer’s: Every Minute Counts)

My fundraiser still automatically runs for a few more days, but I’m celebrating now because I reached my goal!

I made major pushes in asking people for support on Giving Tuesday and my birthday, so I think my personal network may be tapped-out and I won’t likely receive more donations going forward. If so, that’s fine by me - I’m blown away that my network generously gave $400. The total may end up being even more, because the donations made on December 1, Giving Tuesday, are eligible for a match from Facebook. 

Click here for my original blog post to learn more about Alzheimer’s, understand the caregiver experience, get some tips for caregiver stress management and wellbeing.