Forget-Me-Not - Anne Bashkiroff's Crusade

Forget-Me-Not follows one woman’s journey of caregiving for her husband, the struggles she faced and her crusade to change legislation in the U.S.

This memoir begins with the story of Anne and Sasha Bashkiroff’s early lives and how they met and married, moves into what precipitated the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease and then delves into the complicated journey once Sasha is diagnosed. Anne chronicles their struggles to cope with day-to-day life and to ultimately search for a facility that could take her husband once she could not cope any longer.

Anne’s experiences led her to become a founding member and driving force behind the Family Survival Task Force and she documents her own personal transformation into an activist involved with changing legislation first in California and then nationally. Forget-Me-Not is written from Anne’s perspective of working to share information with others and working in partnership with many other organizations and individuals involved with “brain-damaged” people. i.e. Parkinson’s, head injuries, Huntington’s and of course Alzheimer’s disease.

The book was easy to read but certainly geared toward the U.S. system and their struggles to work within or in some cases against the system. However, although the book does not go into any detail on the disease itself, and setting aside the focus on the fight to change legislation and/or the system, the Bashkiroff’s personal story could be that of any person caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia.

Reviewed by Linda Forrest, Manager, Alzheimer Society of B.C.