Imagine the person you love most slowly losing the ability to say your name.

That is the reality my family lives every single day. My name is Suzette Paré, and I’m writing to you from Apex, North Carolina, because my youngest son, Steven Bridges, is dying—and his wife and teenage son need your help to survive what comes next.

At just 44 years old, Steven was diagnosed with Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD) with aphasia—the same devastating, incurable brain disease that actor Bruce Willis has been facing publicly. But unlike a celebrity’s story, there are no teams of specialists on call, no unlimited resources. There is just our family, doing everything we can with what we have.

FTD doesn’t work like the dementia most people know. It strikes younger, moves faster, and attacks the very parts of the brain that make someone them—personality, language, the ability to plan, to connect. Steven went from a sharp-witted, hands-on dad who cooked dinner every night and made everyone in the room laugh to someone who struggles to form a single word. He is 46 years old.

Before FTD, Steven was the kind of person everyone wanted to hang out with. He’d fire up the grill for neighbors, coach Silas through homework, and crack a joke that could turn a bad day around. He worked hard as a media director to provide for his family and never missed a chance to show Beth and Silas they were his whole world.

His wife, Beth, serves as a dedicated employee of the Raleigh Police Department. Their son, Silas, is 14—old enough to understand what’s happening and young enough that it will shape him forever. These are the people Steven built his life around, and they are the ones who need our help now.

Two Crises, One Family

Crisis #1: Steven needs more care than hospice can provide.

We are grateful for hospice, but it covers only a portion of what Steven needs day-to-day. His condition requires additional skilled nursing support to manage his medications, mobility, safety, and comfort—care that costs thousands of dollars per month beyond what insurance covers. Steven deserves to spend his remaining time with dignity and grace, surrounded by love—not limited by what we can afford.

Crisis #2: When Steven passes, Beth and Silas lose everything.

Here is the part that keeps me up at night. Steven’s Social Security Disability benefits end the moment he dies. That income—the income keeping a roof over Beth and Silas’s heads—disappears overnight. Beth has been working full-time while serving as Steven’s primary caregiver while raising a teenager. She is running on love and adrenaline, and she cannot do this alone.

Without help, they face losing their home—the place where Silas took his first steps, where the family gathered for holidays and birthday parties, where the walls still echo with Steven’s laughter. No family should have to grieve and face foreclosure at the same time.

How Your Donation Will Be Used

Our goal is $100,000, and every dollar goes directly to Steven’s care and his family’s survival:

❤ Additional Nursing Care — $50,000: Specialized nurses to supplement hospice, ensuring Steven receives the dignified, around-the-clock care he deserves in his final months.

❤ Mortgage & Housing Stability — $20,000: At least one year of mortgage payments so Beth can stabilize financially without the immediate threat of foreclosure while she grieves and adjusts.

❤ Silas’s Needs & Future — $15,000: School supplies, extracurricular activities, counseling to help him process losing his dad, and a start on college savings so his future isn’t derailed by this tragedy.

❤ Daily Living & Emergency Costs — $15,000: Groceries, utilities, transportation to medical appointments, and a buffer for the unexpected expenses that come with a crisis this large.

How You Can Help Right Now

I know times are hard for many people, and I would never ask if we weren’t desperate. But here is the truth: even $10 matters. When hundreds of people each give a little, it becomes the lifeline a family needs to survive.

Here’s what you can do:

1. Donate whatever you can. No amount is too small—it all adds up.

2. Share this page. Post it on Facebook, Instagram, X, or text it to someone who might care. A single share can reach hundreds of people.

3. Keep Steven, Beth, and Silas in your thoughts and prayers. They feel every bit of love and support, and it carries them through the hardest days.

From a Mother’s Heart

No parent should have to watch their child fade away. No wife should have to choose between caregiving and keeping the lights on. No teenager should have to worry about losing his home on top of losing his father.

Your generosity means Beth can focus on being present with Steven as his wife in his final chapter without drowning in financial fear. It means Silas can grieve his dad without his world falling apart around him. It means Steven can leave this life knowing his family will be okay.

From the bottom of my heart—and from a mother who would give anything to trade places with her son—thank you for reading our story. Thank you for caring. Thank you for helping us carry what we cannot carry alone.

With love and deepest gratitude,

Suzette Paré

Mother, advocate, and proud Grammy to Silas