Going Home

Betty Jane Bredbenner - B.J. Bredbenner to her art clients - was a loving mother and intelligent, successful woman. From raising five children while working as an E.R. nurse to starting a promising art career later in life, all while running and staying healthy, it seemed like she could keep on going forever.

Until she fell one day while on a jog with her dog, Buddy.

What seemed at first like a relatively simple injury actually marked BJ's first step on her journey with dementia. Years before an official diagnosis, BJ's children grappled with her odd behaviors and confusing symptoms during a time when their family experienced one tragedy after another. In this debut non-fiction novel, author David R. Bredbenner documents the difficult path his family tread as dementia tightened its grip on their mother, turning a once vivacious, creative powerhouse into a suspicious stranger. With poignant anecdotes, keen insight, and wisdom that only comes with experience, Bredbenner narrates the often bewildering process of role reversal adult children face as their parents age. Readers will find comfort and can benefit from - especially those experiencing the same struggles. After all, when life and illness strip away our sense of normalcy, don't we all just want to go home?