BOURNE, MASS. (WHDH) - A 97-year-old woman from Bourne has battled dementia for years but her daughter says she finds comfort in playing music.
While she struggles with her memory, she still remembers how to play the piano.
“When she’s not at the piano, life doesn’t make sense,” Randi Lebar said of her mother, Elaine Lebar.
“She remembers music,” she said. “Music comes back, that’s the only consistent thing that comes back.”
Elaine Lebar has played the piano since she was 3 and went on to teach, compose, publish, and perform songs — so it’s only natural that it became a regular part of her daily life at the senior living facility where she lives.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, videos of her playing went viral on Tik Tok and turned into a dementia support and awareness effort.
Her daughter now travels all over Massachusetts and shares her mother’s story of how the illness couldn’t take her passion for playing from her.
Randi Lebar is encouraging anyone who has a loved one who is battling dementia to find one of their passions and encourage them to revisit it.
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