The Duet Between a Son & His 88-Year-Old Mom with Alzheimer’s Will Make You Cry – Kveller
Skip to Content Skip to Footer

illness

The Duet Between a Son & His 88-Year-Old Mom with Alzheimer’s Will Make You Cry

Your daily dose of “aww” is here–and it’s about to make your heart turn to mush. Earlier in the month, a Georgia UPS worker posted two Facebook videos that will make your day brighter. Why? Because the videos are of him singing with his 88-year-old mother who has Alzheimer’s. What’s more heartwarming than that?

Kelly Ridings and his mom love country songs, so they decided to sing together. But what makes this more breathtaking is the fact that they look do devoted and dotingly at each other–all despite that she suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. In this way, music brings them together, and allows them to connect despite her disease. Indeed, studies have shown that music therapy can help dementia patients dealing with depression.

Ridings captioned the videos, writing:

“Mom is 88 now. She’s in assisted living and has Alzheimer’s but she can still play and sing better than anyone in my eyes.

Most days I miss her, but she always comes back to me when we sing.”

Not surprisingly, the videos went viral, as many people have a family member who suffers from Alzheimer’s–it currently has been shared over 555K times, while one of the videos even garnered around 39 million views. Many commented in support, describing their own situations, such as:

“How marvelous she remembers how to play the guitar and sing!! Brought tears to my eyes. I took care of my aunt with Alzheimer’s for 10 years and certain things from the past would key her memory,” she wrote.

Of course, the happy smiles in the video don’t mean that dealing with his mother’s disease is always easy, either. In 2016, he wrote in a Facebook post how it’s been hard to have his mother live in an assisted living facility:

“With this all happening by surprise, I’ve had no time for anything or anyone else, including my wife, my children, and my brother who just lost his wife to Alzheimer’s.”

Nearly 5 million Americans are living with the disease, according to the Alzheimer’s Association, which means that many families can relate to Ridings’ situation with his mom.

Skip to Banner / Top Skip to Content