A powerful, ground-shifting account of caring for a parent with Alzheimer's about which Maya Angelou exclaimed, "Joy!" Since Cathie Borrie delivered her keynote performance at the World Alzheimer's Day event sponsored by the Community and Access Programs of the Museum of Modern Art, her self-published manuscript has won rapturous praise from noted writers and Alzheimer's experts alike, from Maya Angelou, Lisa Genova, and Molly Peacock to Dr. Bill Thomas, Jed A. Levine of the Alzheimer's Association, NYC, and Meryl Comer of the Geoffrey Beene Foundation Alzheimer's Initiative. Now it is available to the general public for the first time in a trade edition. The Long Hello distills the seven years the author spent caring for her mother into a page-turning memoir that offers insight into the "altering world of the dementia mind." During that time, Borrie recorded brief conversations she had with her mother that revealed the transformations within—and sometimes yielded an almost Zenlike poetry. She includes selections from them in chapters about her experience that are as evocative as diary entries. Her mother was the emotional pillar and sometime breadwinner in a home touched by a birth father's alcoholism, a brother's early death, divorce, and a stepfather's remoteness. In Borrie's spare prose, her mother's story becomes a family's story as well a deeply loving portrait that embraces life. "A sparse yet deeply affecting, poetic story of love and devotion . . . revealing moments of clarity, absurdity, wisdom, and connection that pierce and heal the heart."—Lisa Genova, author of New York Times bestseller Still Alice "Joy!"—Maya Angelou "Cathie Borrie is a great writer, and her exploration of life with Alzheimer's is deep, rich, nuanced, and soulful."—Dr. Bill Thomas, author of Second Wind " The Long Hello is a graceful dance between mother and daughter through the ever-changing rhythms of Alzheimer's disease. Beautiful and profound in its telling, this story reveals the depth of poetry and creativity that the changing brain can muster along its journey. One of my favorite books on the topic!"—G. Allen Power, MD, author of Dementia Beyond Drugs and Dementia Beyond Disease "Caregivers will recognize themselves both in the mix of light moments of connection, and in the darker, unspeakable, intolerable emotions. . . . Borrie finds poetry in her mother's language, and teaches us all important lessons about the human experience of caring. . . A beautifully written meditation on memory loss, suffering, hope, and love."—Jed A. Levine, Executive Vice President and Director, Programs and Services, Alzheimer's Association, New York City Chapter " The Long Hello is an exceptional book about caring for people with dementia that offers a paradigm-shifting approach to maintaining relationship. Cathie Borrie enters deeply into her mother’s world, and a poetic dialogue of mutual love and respect is the result. Should be required reading for everyone caring for people with dementia, and included in the syllabus of healthcare professionals learning how to do so."—Marc Wortmann, Executive Director, Alzheimer's Disease International "Cathie Borrie has learned to respect the wisdom in her mother's free associations. The Long Hello will touch deeply all who love."—Naomi Feil, author of Validation: The Feil Method and The Validation Breakthrough and founder and director in chief of the Validation Training Institute "Cathie's book, The Long Hello , is one of the finest examples currently available illustrating the kind of dignity-promoting, compassionate care which should be the heart and soul of the culture change movement. The warmth of her story combats the cold realities of ageism and negative stigma that have characterized the Alzheimer's and dementia world for too long. . . . I believe that Cathie's book should be made available to all caregivers, both lay and professional, as well as policy makers, researchers, and anyone else who advocates for this cause."—Daniel C. Potts, MD, FAAN, Attending Neurologist, Tuscaloosa VA Medical Center, Founder and President, Cognitive Dynamics Foundation, Medical Director, Dementia Dynamics, LLC "The book's highly literary vision of disease is a powerful challenge to more detached clinical observations . . . By approaching a parent's Alzheimer's in the spirit of hello rather than goodbye, Borrie is predisposed to pay attention-yet even then she's astonished at the words that emerge from her mother's mouth, almost as if aging could unlock the imagination and unleash a verbal force held back by logic and rationality."—John Allemang, Globe and Mail "Borrie captures the familiar cadence of repetition and the bizarre, yet touching conversations we share. We must live in their reality if we are to comfort them, and Cathie shows us how it can be done with love."—Meryl Comer, President, Geoffrey Beene Foundation Alzheimer's Initiative; Emmy-award winning reporter, producer