Stories from those who hold.

My mom called one afternoon and said she didn't feel well. Within hours I was driving her to the ER. Two weeks later she had a stroke that took her left side completely. She went from lighting up ever…

— Kirstin, Ontario

I was the one everyone assumed would do it. I'm a woman, I live closest, I don't have children. Nobody said that out loud. But I felt it in how quickly the conversation stopped when it was time to dec…

— Anonymous

Something I didn't expect was laughing. We laughed so much, actually, more than we had in years. When someone is sick and you're both a little afraid, regular things become funny in a different way. S…

— Renée, Québec

I didn't expect the silence after. When you're caregiving, the calendar runs your life. Appointments, medications, calls, forms. And then one day there's nothing on the calendar and you don't know wha…

— Anonymous

Something I didn't expect was that I would stop being his son and start being something else. Not less, just different. There's no word for it. The relationship didn't end, it just reorganized around …

— David, BC

I thought I would feel noble. That's an embarrassing thing to admit. I imagined I would rise to it, be patient and warm, the way I always assumed I would be if it ever came to this. Instead I was rese…

— Anonymous

Something I didn't expect about caregiving was how much of it happens in parking lots. Waiting in the car while he went to his appointment. Sitting outside the building after a bad visit, not ready to…

— Margaret, Ontario