The lost society – missing, dead and alive

Rosa Roisinblit, 97, bitterly misses her second grandchild. She is one of Argentina's Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo – a group of women who defied a dictatorship, and who continue to fight for the truth about the 500 infants they claim were ‘stolen’.

Indeed, what would be the impact on their communities, never mind the grandmothers, had they not been “lost” but had grown up to share their gifts and talents with society at large?

We lost our brother in law, Frank, 5 years ago to cancer and our concern was that his lifelong partner, my sister Trish, would be horribly lonely on her own.

This was certainly true in the early days and although the loneliness is still there it manifests itself in shorter episodes and is perhaps limited to times when couples are celebrating together: the festive season is never a good one for Trish. She is a remarkable woman and has bravely conquered much of the feelings of loneliness she has suffered.

Frank, however, is yet another part of a lost society…lost to cancer. As a cancer survivor myself, I know the proportion of people that are touched by cancer and it is frightening.

And there is another section of a lost society. After reading Wendy Mitchell’s story about how her life was turned upside down by a diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer’s, it got me thinking about our fellow citizens, still alive, but who are becoming the lost ones in society.

Wendy is unlucky because early-onset Alzheimer's is an uncommon form of dementia that strikes people younger than age 65 and accounts for just 5 per cent of people who contract Alzheimer's disease,

As part of her story, she ponders over the question of whether gazing at old family holiday snaps can help rescue her memory? This is interesting; I think very interesting.

Whilst Alzheimer’s is by far the most common kind of dementia. Over-50 adults, the cohort most likely to face one or other form of dementia is estimated to account for between a quarter and a third of the world’s population, so potentially we are facing the possibility of a future society where a huge proportion of the population are effectively “lost”.

Over recent months, however, I have realised that in my many discussions with older adults, reminiscing and gazing at old pictures is a lifeline to recovering their memories. From my observations, it appeared to be one thing that could really ‘light them up’. Not only that, but everyone, young and old, appeared to enjoy the conversations.

This is a significant piece of the jigsaw when trying to work out how to stave off or even try to prevent, the onset of any form of Alzheimer’s.

When I met Craig Lemmon who runs www.Miigen.com, a social platform for senior life living, I thought he had a great business based on how huge numbers of older adults, ordinary people with often extraordinary stories to tell, could leave a legacy of their life behind and one that would explain to many generations who they were. I liked that a lot. I liked it so much I invested in the business as well as in Craig’s vision which I admire greatly.

Since then I appreciate the power of Miigen and whilst I am not suggesting it is a simple cure or anything like it, I do know the process of building the story of someone’s life while using voice tagging from an older adult to accompany the pictures is good for everyone involved.

It may not help all dementia sufferers, but I am sure the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo would be delighted even if they only found one of the lost children.