For Richard Taylor The Battle Gets Tougher

Published by Kavan Peterson, Editor, ChangingAging.org on November 28, 2012 | 8 Responses

For Richard Taylor The Battle Gets Tougher

In this week’s edition of Dr. Richard Taylor’s influential newsletter Alzheimer’s from the Inside Out, Richard shared the difficult news that in addition to being a leading advocate for and person living with dementia he is now also a person living with a rare and dangerous form of cancer.

The diagnosis is esophageal cancer and Richard announced he will be curtailing his advocacy activities indefinitely while he works with a team of physicians on a course of treatment. Richard is a prolific speaker and author and has contributed immensely to building a global grassroots movement to humanize dementia care and his abrupt withdrawal from advocacy will be sorely missed. However, Richard is not saying “Farewell” but instead calling on friends and advocates in this newly formed movement to continue to engage and speak out:

And so I “Hail” the new advocates, the new folks standing up and speaking out. I Hail all of you who are daily in some ways or another confronting, living with, and attempting to humanize dementia care, and especially in those who live with dementia. This is not to my mind farewell. It is at best a pause in my engagement, and at worst a farewell to all the friends I have made while speaking out  about what it is like to me to live with Dementia. I have never thought in terms of “fighting dementia”, being in a war with it, etc. I engage it each day looking to maximize the availability quality of life which is within reach. My reach has shortened a tad, but I’m still reaching, still living my life to its fullest. I am down, but far from out! 
Stay tuned, I will for sure.
Richard plans to keep us updated on his progress via his blog at www.richardtaylorphd.com. He also has many friends, such as Dementia Beyond Drugs author Dr. Al Power, stepping-in for him for key speaking engagements and events promoting dementia care advocacy. Coming up Dec. 10, Al will be featured on Richard’s groundbreaking monthly webinar series A Meeting of the Minds: A Virtual Meeting of People with Dementia, which will continue to be facilitated by Laura Bowley, one of Richard’s longtime collaborators and writer and editor of the I CAN! I WILL! idea library.
A Meeting of the Minds is a new conversation between people living with the symptoms of dementia and care partners, professionals, advocates and others. Register to participate in A Meeting of the Minds here.

Related posts:

  1. Introducing The Voices of Dementia
  2. ‘Changing Minds’ Alzheimer’s Education Symposium This October in Colorado
  3. Read The Latest Alzheimer’s From The Inside Out Newsletter

Article written by Kavan Peterson, Editor, ChangingAging.org

Kavan is a social media entrepreneur committed to growing the use of social networking towards promoting the equality, sustainability, health and well being of people of all ages. Combining careers as a national journalist and public relations expert, Kavan focuses on the power of user-generated content to communicate ideas and build movements.

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