Kim’s story

I have been a listener for years, and not sure how long my brother has been a listener. Our mom not too long ago was diagnosed with dementia. She declined rapidly with the disease. Feb of 2024 she was still living independently with my brother and I tag-teaming being there every day of the week. My daughter also lived with her, but she is a medic as well as being an on-call medic/fire fighter for a local fire department, so it was pretty erratic when my daughter would be with mom. Mid February, we hired one of the ladies from our church to stay with mom overnights, as mom became terrified of being alone. As mom’s dementia progressed her caregiver picked up more and more slack. By September, mom had stopped eating and we brought in in-home hospice. But she started eating again and rallied. 2nd week of October her 1st great-grandchild was born, and her middle name was after my mom, Laura. As I had dreaded, shortly after meeting her namesake great-granddaughter, my mom declined rapidly. The last month, mom was bedridden. We found that music was soothing to her, so we put a radio in her room next to her bed and had it on KTIS 98.5. I loved that at any given moment, while my mom, brother, and I may not be in the same place together, we were all listening to the same beautiful music. The Sunday prior to mom’s death, I was sitting with her. She was unresponsive, so I just sat with her. I noticed that her toe was tapping to Brandon Lake’s I’m Gonna Praise. I filmed a short video of this, not knowing how soon I would have to say good-bye to her. 2 days later, on my way to work I stopped in to check on mom and realized she was in her final hours. I called everyone in our family. My brother and I sat with mom, listening to KTIS as she drew her last breathe. At last she was at peace and our mourning amplified – as we had been mourning each loss along the path of dementia. I am so grateful that KTIS was there, uniting all of us while apart and was accompanying us as we said our final farewell. I am so grateful for the video I have of her tiny toe tapping to joyful music, it let me know she was still there in some capcity and enjoying the music. Thank you for the 24/7 spiritual support.