After losing mom to Alzheimer's, North Texas woman creates book to help families preserve memories

November is Alzheimer's Awareness Month, and right now, the Alzheimer's Association estimates more than 7 million Americans 65 and older are living with the disease. 

Here locally, one woman is using her own experience to help other families navigate through the challenges.  

As the Chief Operating Officer of Tradition Senior Living, Vanessa Fernandes-Randall has spent years interacting with people living with Alzheimer's, but she says nothing could have prepared her for her own mother's diagnosis five years ago. 

"For me, there was a little bit of guilt," she said. "There was a little bit of could I have done more? What do I do? Am I qualified to take care of mom?" 

After her mom's diagnosis, Vanessa began noticing more changes with each visit. 

"Every day routine tasks were things that my mom was just forgetting," she said. "So, it's not just your I forgot where the keys are.. it was I'm forgetting what the keys are for. It wasn't just the basic I don't know where the phone is ... it ended up being I don't know how to use the phone. So how do you preserve the memories? How do you keep track of these wonderful stories that you know and remember? Or some you might not know?"  

Those questions inspired her to create Still Me, a keepsake activity book designed to help families connect through memory activities, movement, conversation prompts, photographs, and even familiar songs. 

"My mom could not always remember what happened five minutes ago, but boy, if I turned on an Elvis Presley song - she came alive," Vanessa said. "At 90-something, my mom would break out into a dance."

Over the summer, Vanessa's mom passed away, but she says her book has preserved some of their most meaningful moments. 

"There is a memento of her life," she said. "There is proof of the goodness of her that is here in this book and so it is just a great reminder of the things that I was able to do with her in her final years."

Last month, she made Still Me available to the public. It is available on Amazon, on Vanessa's website, and at local business For Heaven's Sake in Snider Plaza for anyone who is interested in purchasing a copy.