A few years ago Mom was diagnosed with FTd- an aggressive degenerative type of dementia that affects a younger population than regular Alzheimer’s.  She started to show subtle signs about 7 years ago, and once my dad retired they moved to a place in the country, where her decline made significant strides. Through all of these changes my Dad has been her primary caregiver, never leaving her side for long. The trouble with FTD is because the patient is young, they do not qualify for services. She did not qualify for social security disability because she has not worked in several years, and she is too young for medicare. Their income  from my dad’s retirement is enough to be ineligible for medi-cal and she does not yet qualify for hospice- which hovers on the horizon. For the past two years I have been making the 8 hour drive as often as I can, in between work and kids, to help him, but it’s no longer enough. He can’t leave her alone for more than 15 minutes at a time, and it’s wearing him out emotionally, psychologically, and physically. The only option he has for respite care is to hire someone. I found him a wonderful helper, but it’s about $100 a visit for about 5.5 hours. As you can tell, this can get expensive, so he’s only using her services about once a week. But let me tell you once a week isn’t enough, and being her sole caregiver is wearing him down. My dad is stubborn, and he would never accept charity. I’m doing this behind his back. Any money received from this go fund me endeavor would go directly toward providing him the respite care services he needs to keep his sanity, and to be able to keep mom at home for as long as possible. Caretaking for a loved one with dementia is a 24/7 job. It’s thankless, and it’s heartbreaking, because they don’t get better, only worse. I figure- if a girl can get a go fund me for getting glue out of her hair, why can’t I get one to help my Dad? Thanks in advance ❤️.