Cracker Boynton has been advocating for her husband, Jeremy, since 2013, when the couple first began to notice Jeremy’s cognitive decline. It took five years before she could convince neurologists to perform a PET scan – which confirmed what they already knew: Jeremy has Alzheimer’s disease.

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But her husband’s diagnosis was just that – a diagnosis.

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“They give you medication and say, ‘OK, goodbye,’” she says. “I felt so alone. I didn’t have support.” 

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Last summer, the couple received a postcard in the mail from Ceresti Health, and Cracker called the number. That’s when everything changed.

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“They said, ‘I’m going to send you a tablet,’ and I thought, ‘OK. I’m not very tech savvy.’ But then I got the tablet and it was just so easy,” she says. 

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A motivated reader, Cracker breezed through months’ worth of caregiver education in just weeks. The Ceresti tablet is the first thing she reaches for in the morning, playing the brain games and checking in about Jeremy’s condition. While all of this has been helpful and educational, Cracker says what she values most about Ceresti has been the support from compassionate, knowledgeable caregiver coaches.

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“I was walking around blindly. I had no guidance. The support I get with Ceresti is taking a load off of me,” she says. “I feel like I’m not alone, and I feel so supported.”

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Among the things Cracker learned about through Ceresti is the concept of “show timing,” where people with dementia are able to rally their behavior and movement long enough to put on a display for others – only to revert back when the “audience” of friends and strangers has disappeared.

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Once an avid athlete and successful plant manager, Jeremy is a master show-timer, Cracker says. If she hadn’t learned about this concept – and if she didn’t have support from her Caregiver Coach Molly Fuhrman-Sherman at Ceresti – she says she is not sure how she would navigate this frustrating symptom of dementia.

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“We met his family at the beach for a family reunion, and he just was shining,” she says. “He’s out there walking and talking with everyone, the grandkids, the kids, his sisters and brothers. One of his sisters said to me, ‘Does Jeremy even have Alzheimer’s?’” Cracker says. “Afterwards, Molly called, and it was so nice to talk to her about it.” 

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There is no cure for Alzheimer’s disease, and Cracker knows that further decline is inevitable. Last year, Jeremy was also diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. He he can no longer dress himself and has trouble walking and finding the bathroom. Cracker knows that his condition is not going to get better. But she also knows that she’s not alone.

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“I try to focus on how many blessings we have,” she says. “So many of the people at Ceresti have been caregivers themselves, so they know what we’re going through. You really feel the difference with Ceresti. It’s the difference between being left in the dark, and all of a sudden there’s light.”

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