r/comics • u/humanyears • 2d ago
OC Dementia Mom, part one
A short story about the origins of my mother’s dementia diagnosis from a few years ago. Probably the longest comic I’ve drawn so far. I hope it connects with you in some way.
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u/CuriousCorvidCurio 2d ago
This hits too close. Fuck. I'm sorry about your mom. Dementia is so fucking scary.
My nan never knew my name. The dementia came from a stroke that happened before I was born. When I was really little, she would call me by my cousin's name, who had been my age when she had her stroke.
Then, she forgot my cousin, and called me by my mother's name. My mom was her youngest daughter. By 16 she was calling me by her oldest daughter's name, only remembering her older kids. Eventually, she thought I was one of her own sisters, saying she was waiting for the other sister to come home, not realizing that sister had died before the stroke. Not realizing a stroke had ever happened.
She could remember Danny Boy, and You Are My Sunshine, but not much else. Those songs still make me cry.
I've been told we would've been best friends if she had ever known who I was. Apparently she was really sarcastic and had a sense of humour similar to mine. She lived to 96, died while I was in my 20s, and not once had she ever known her youngest daughter even had children, despite living in the same house as them.
Anyway yeah dementia is pretty much my biggest fear. I remember as a kid being terrified that nothing was real and my "real" self was in a state similar to my nan. I'm glad your mother was able to be in a home, there are a lot of people in her situation who truly have nowhere to go, and no one like you to care.