Support Women's Alzheimer's Movement
Wed Oct 16, 2019
6:00 - 8:00 pm
529 California Avenue
Venice, CA 90291
Leggin at $65
SHOP, SNACK AND HELP STOP THE CLOCK!
100% of the net proceeds will be donated to WAM
The Favorite Daughter
Special Guest: New York Times Bestselling Author Patti Callahan Henry signing her new novel THE FAVORITE DAUGHTER about memories and how they shape us.
From Patti's Facebook:
On Wednesday I will be in LA and at The Mumu store with @teresamumu and @ryanmumuphoto and @cammymumu and of course with @womensalzmovement !!! Join us in Venice Beach all for the purple!!!
ć»ć»ć» Join me, @cammymumu @ryanmumuphoto & @pattichenry Wed Nite @mumuvenice to get your WAM leggings š 100% of the proceeds will benefit @womensalzmovement š Available online @showmeyourmumu #moveforminds #wipeoutalzheimers
Event Photo Gallery
Instagram Post from @pattichenry
We were not in a wedding. Nope. Purple flowers for Alzheimerās research and the kickass work that @womensalzmovement and @teresamumu and @cammymumu and @mariashriver are doing for it. Thank@you @showmeyourmumu for hosting us and the leggings and ā¤ļøā¤ļøā¤ļøā¤ļø PS you too can have these leggings and ALL the proceeds go to WAM. So@for now goodbye LA and šand š xoxoxo #thefavoritedaughter
WAM
Every 65 seconds, a new brain develops Alzheimerās. Two-thirds of the brains with Alzheimerās belong to women, and no one knows why that is. The Womenās Alzheimerās Movement is determined to find out.
Founded by Maria Shriver, The Womenās Alzheimerās Movement is a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to raising awareness about womenās increased risk for Alzheimerās and to educating the public ā women and men ā about lifestyle changes they can make to protect their brain health. Through our annual campaigns and initiatives, we also raise dollars to fund women-based Alzheimerās research at leading scientific institutions, so that we can better understand this mind-blowing disease and hopefully get closer to a cure. Learn More
Related Posts:
June 6, 2019 The Poignancy of Memory
May 11, 2019 Patti Partners with Women's Alzheimer's Movement
Best-Selling Author Patti Callahan Henry Reflects on the Poignancy of Memory
Life is made up of thousands of memories, if not millions. The smell of a favorite childhood landscape. The touch of a loved oneās hand. The sound of a loverās whisper. The sight of a babyās smile. The ache of loss and heartbreak.
Do such memories define us? They often seem to, and yet ā what is a memory?
Amorphous connections inside the brain? Electrochemical signals? Synapses connecting with the patterns of things that have happened to us? These are ā of course ā questions that donāt have a fully satisfactory answer. What we do know is that when someone we love begins to lose their memories, it hurts. Though they might sit there in a familiar chair, in a familiar house, with their body alive and well, their life seems to be fading away. We feel confused and disconnected. We feel as if we donāt know them or as if they donāt know us. Itās painful.
Dr. Pauline Boss has a term for the pain we feel in this: ambiguous loss. She writes, āHuman relationships are ruptured indefinitely by ambiguous loss.ā Rupture. Thatās a powerful word. And yet, when someone we love suffers from Alzheimerās, that loved one is simultaneously present and absent. These dueling facts pull us in opposite directions. Have we lost them or not? Is it fair to mourn someone who is still alive? The questions go on and on.
When the plaques and tangles of Alzheimerās take over a mind they destroy the very connections that weāve spent a lifetime making. It is the cruelest fate. How do we explain such a thing? John OāDonohue ā the Irish poet and philosopher ā spoke of such questions as lanterns, illuminating a path forward. I believe that. And I believe that the questions we ask about memory and memory-loss are lantern lights, guiding our path toward healing, understanding, prevention, and a possible cure.
When I use the lantern of question, I often discover a story. Story helps make sense of the senseless, and can provide meaning in tragedy. Stories are our family legends, our beliefs, our myths.
We share such stories in community and read them privately. Either way, the unique power of story can both help and heal as we journey through the maze of Alzheimerās and memory-loss.
Medicine is predicated on questions and theory. Before I was a novelist, I was a nurse with a masterās degree in pediatrics. Folks tell me those careers seem incongruent, but it turns out both are about family, stories, and the inner secrets of our lives. My thesis and my work focused on head injuries. It was there that my fascination, awe, and also a healthy fear about the fragility of memories, began.
It was then that I began to see the power of story to guide us, to allow us to find answers, to make meaning, to make sense, and to open our eyes to something greater guiding us in the direction of truth. Sometimes those stories are ārealā and sometimes (as in my case) they are fictional ā a resting place to ask the larger questions in a context where the answers can unfold without the constraints of familiarity.
Memories come and go; they morph and change; they appear and disappear without warning. And when I saw families suffering when a child with a brain injury seemed no longer theirs, I began to ask questions that Iām still asking today. But a lack of sufficient answers doesnāt mean we stop asking. As Rumi wrote, we can live into the questions.
My latest novelā The Favorite Daughter ā explores a family that must decide whether it will come together or come undone during an Alzheimerās diagnosis. This story was my attempt to make some sense of what seems senseless ā the disintegration of personhood through memory loss. My characters try to gather their loved oneās memories in a Memory Book with stories, working their way through a life full of stories that they are slowly losing. This is what we do ā try to grab onto what is disappearing right before our very eyes. Can we? Does this help at all?
Well, if this isnāt the answer, then what is?
We must do the scientific research for prevention and cure and we must also tell our stories. These are not mutually exclusive endeavors. As we struggle to persevere in the midst of ambiguous loss, we must immerse ourselves in some concoction of truth, stories, and science. I believe with my whole heart that stories will be a source of help and healing in the battle against this cruel disease that is taking our loved ones from us.
Learn more about THE FAVORITE DAUGHTER. Buy the Book.
About the Author
Patti Callahan Henry is a New York Times best-selling author of fifteen novels, including the (Historical Fiction), BECOMING MRS. LEWISāThe Improbable Love Story of Joy Davidman and C.S. Lewis. Now a USA TODAY, Publishers Weekly, and The Globe and Mail bestseller. (writing as Patti Callahan).
The author is also the host of the upcoming seven-part original "Behind the Scenes of Becoming Mrs. Lewis Podcast Series" launching October 1, 2019.
THE FAVORITE DAUGHTER, (Contemporary Southern Fiction) June 4, 2019, and THE PERFECT LOVE SONGāA Christmas Holiday novella released October 8, 2019, are available now. A full-time author and mother of three children, she now resides in both Mountain Brook, Alabama and Bluffton, South Carolina with her husband. Read More
About MUM Venice
Once upon a time, on a magical island...
The Fairytale:
Two free-spirited and lively ladies created an invention essential to the daily lives of girls. The island was Manhattan, and the invention was called the Mumu. This is where our story begins... Read More