Heart Love 
to
Head Love

By Kenneth B. Crooks Jr. & Shelly Crooks Michael

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91-year-old Kenneth Crooks, Jr. and daughter Shelly Michael co-author their new book, Heart Love to Head Love, to raise awareness about dementia. The story is an eye-opening fiction loosely based on their own family experiences and depicts the effects of the development of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease on members of a blended family.

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Heart Love to Head Love is a daunting and unconventional coming-of-age story framed against the backdrop of managing loved ones with the onset of a debilitating neurological disease.  Two families are forced to face and conquer the reality of caregiving in its rawest form.  The family members’ collective creativity and resilience intersect beautifully to untangle the complexities of their new normal, particularly in relation to two major characters who start out as strangers and end up connected in the most unusual way. Family dynamics, memory care issues, health decisions, planning for the future and day-to-day survival, mixed in with good old-fashioned fun, are topics that evolve through this American love story. 

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According to Crooks and Michael, “Our story shows a journey of survival and coping where acknowledgement, acceptance and healing merge to define reality, resulting in the strongest family bonds.” 

 

Crooks and Michael found the writing process to be therapeutic as they lived through some of the challenges of caregiving. “We hope that our story will be a beacon of awareness for all people, and encouragement for caregivers and families with loved ones battling dementia and Alzheimer’s.  Maybe people will see parts of our story in their own journeys and will come to love in a different way.”

Published by True Vine Publishing.

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Facts about dementia and Alzheimer’s: More than 55 million people worldwide have dementia, this includes 6 million Americans.  Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia and makes up about 60-70% of cases. Alzheimer is twice as common in women than in men.