series
Honoring Papaw: A Family’s Promise of Care and Love
By Jennifer Brewsaugh via Well Beings Share Your Caregiving Story
In 2021, we lost my mother-in-law to COVID. Her father was living in his home alone at the time, and her wish was that he never go into a retirement home and that he always be in his own home or with his family. My husband and our two boys moved in with him to become his full-time caregivers. Fast forward to July of 2025, he is in the terminal stage of dementia/Alzheimer’s and will be 96 next month. We both work from home full-time for the family business, run a farm, have two teenage boys, ages 19 & 17, and Papaw is like our third child. Not only does he have dementia, but he also has sundowners.
We know that even in our hardest moments, on our toughest days we will never regret caring for him.
– Jennifer Brewsaugh
We know that even in our most challenging moments, on our toughest days, we will never regret caring for him. We try to take him to our boys’ sporting events, take walks, and do what we can when we can on his good days. We don’t have too many of those anymore. We have sacrificed so much by taking on his care, and we have little to zero help from anyone else. It’s an honor to do what we do, grant my late mother-in-law’s wishes, Papaw’s, and just to give him the best care during his last years. We have no idea when God will call him home but until then we want to share with everyone the good days & the bad, so other out there don’t feel alone. Being a caregiver can be a very lonely job but know that you are an earthly angel and God has big plans in store for you.
Have a Story to Share?
Use #WellBeings and #ShareYourCaregivingStory on your social media posts to share your story.
Or DM your story to us on these social media platforms:
Send your story directly to us bit.ly/WellBeingsStoryWallSub.
Or Email us content to info@wellbeings.org.
