MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — Collene Dalrymple knows the impact of having a family member with Alzheimer's. Her father-in-law was diagnosed with the disease and she says it broke her family's hearts.
"It was so hard on the family and all of us who were caring for him, and he was such a smart man," Dalrymple said. "It was so hard to see how he progressed."
After feeling the pain of Alzheimer's and its impact on those taking care of people suffering from the disease, Dalrymple decided to help start a support group for caretakers of people with Alzheimer's in Baldwin County.
Her father-in-law became very sick and his wife could not take care of him anymore. That's when they say the family came together and decided he needed to go to a home. She said it was really sad to know that he was getting worse.
"At first my mother-in-law just dealt with it, and it really wasn't noticed," she said. "Then we started noticing it and we could handle it at first at home and it got so hard."
When he passed away, it hit the family hard too.
"My husband's family just stuck together and did a great job caring for him," Dalrymple said. "We just tried to be a great support and to love him and to just try to make his life peaceful."
Dalrymple's friend Crystal Law also suffered seeing her grandpa develop Alzheimer's, which led her to join the American Alzheimer's Association.
There, she and Dalrymple became friends and they agreed to start a support group for caretakers in Baldwin County.
"What our hope and dream is is that this will become a really great close-knit group that can talk with each other and share with each other — and be open with each other," Dalrymple said.
That's important because caretakers need support too, said Alexis Willaims, program manager for the Alzheimer's Association in Macon.
"We want to make sure they are their best selves because they can't take care of someone that's diagnosed if they can't take care of themselves," Williams said. "They matter just as much as the person living with the disease."
They wanted to help caretakers have a place to be supported and loved on. They understand how hard it is to walk with someone with dementia.
The group will meet at Milledgeville Methodist church once a month. They had their first meeting on Aug. 2.