App looks to help those dealing with Alzheimer’s disease
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Ashley Bryan has a video that must be difficult for her to watch. Especially because of these two sentences: “Hi, I’m Darlene. I was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s three years ago.”
Darlene is Ashley’s mom. Ashley has become the caregiver for Darlene.
“We have good days and bad days. I’m not going to try to pretend that this is a walk in the park,” she told 24-Hour News 8.
Bryan says her mother’s diagnosis inspired her to study the disease. “And what I discovered,” she said, “was that, while there’s a ton of information online, a lot of it is very shallow. So, it’ll tell you things you need to know. But it doesn’t tell you where to get them.”
So, she created a team to design a resource to help them. She calls it “Life in the Moment.”
“Life in the Moment is a technology platform that will be changing the way families manage chronic illness, starting with Alzheimer’s disease,” said Bryan.
The first feature of the platform is a nutrition app, “Memory Meals.” She hopes it will “help people get up to speed really quickly and then have an ability to manage their nutrition and optimize brain health.”
The full concept will launch in late spring, Bryan predicts. She hopes it will not only help families manage the disease but help monitor its progression. Life in the Moment will have “a variety of really practical daily life activity support tools, she said, “so that families just have one place to go.”
The launch gets a special promotional boost, this week, with the screening of “I’ll Be Me,” a documentary about singer Glen Campbell and his ordeal with dementia. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s several years ago.
A song performed by Campbell, “I’m Not Gonna Miss You,” was nominated for an Oscar as Best Original Song. Bryan’s site will feature video clips that did not appear in the documentary.
Bryan said “families all over the place can learn from the experience the Campbells had — which is an incredibly brave thing for the Campbell family to do.”
The screening will be followed by a question and answer session with Campbell’s wife, Kim, and a concert by Campbell’s daughters, Ashley and Shannon.
The event will be at Clowes Hall, on the campus of Butler University, Friday, April 24th. Tickets are available at Clowes and from Ticketmaster. The cost for the evening’s program ranges from $30 to $50.
Bryan says there will be a monthly fee for access to “Life in the Moment.” But, “while this is a business, it’s a mission-driven business. So, we’re really interested in helping families who are struggling.”