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Vascular Destruction of Humanity
On the genocide in Gaza and its disproportionate impact on humanity
My mother died with vascular dementia. Mini-strokes (transient ischaemic attacks or TIA’s) would cause parts of her brain to die and over time her brain literally shrunk, progressively impairing her cognitive abilities, eventually leading to her death. One of her sisters also had dementia but she was blissfully unaware and reverted to childlike behaviour. My mum, on the other hand, was aware that her life was being taken from her and she fought doggedly against it for years.
In her eyes you could see that she was struggling to remember and clinging on. Eventually she forgot who her husband was (my dad had died some years before). His picture now meant nothing to her yet she still remembered Sabre, our pet labrador for whom she wept solidly for a week after he’d been put down due to a degenerative condition. Her last few months were more peaceful once here memory had gone and her fight was ended.
Many of my mother’s strokes were unnoticeable but the less minor ones would leave her confused and disoriented. After one attack she lost the ability to speak — she was aware but couldn’t vocalise her thoughts. She recovered her speech but it was clear she’d lost more than she gained. It was a sawtooth regression which would…
