It is World Alzheimer's Day 2016 and we are thrilled to announce the winner of the Dementia Alliance International Inaugural Richard Taylor Memorial Advocates Award.
The winner is...
Mick Carmody from Brisbane, a loyal, fun loving and hard working DAI board member and Global Support Group Manager is ensuring through his own actions and dedication to all people with dementia, that Richard's incredible legacy lives on. Thank you Mick, and special thanks to your wife (and Angel) Sue, your daughter Melissa and your beautiful family for their support of you and our work.
Mick Carmody thoroughly deserves the Inaugural Richard Taylor Memorial Award for his service to DAI, the legacy left by Richard, and although Richard was one of seven co-founders, Mick has devoted himself tirelessly to carrying on this work. Although he says he was inspired to ‘climb out of that black hole of depression’ through meeting me and getting involved with DAI, his attendance at the Support Groups that were run by Richard himself, inspired Mick as well.
We are all very proud of you Mick, and thank you for your tireless work, patience, humour and support of our members. We had a number of nominations, but it was felt Mick was the most deserving of the Inaugural award.
Mick, the late Dr Richard Taylor would be incredibly proud of you.
A few reasons why Mick deserves this award, as told to us by those who nominated him:
"Mick Carmody is one of those rare souls you can call at four in the morning, and you know he’ll be there for you. Not only will he answer the phone, he’ll immediately ask what he can do to help. Then he’ll listen attentively while you incoherently describe some perceived injustice with catastrophic consequences that will bring an end to civilization as we know it – and provide you the biggest, most absorbent, virtual shoulder to cry on, for as long as you need.
What you can depend on, is that he’ll pick up on one or two things you said and find a way to give you back control over the situation, which, of course, is all you really needed in the first place, but you didn’t know it. “Well, what if I called the office?” he’d ask, and pause. You think, hm, yeah, that might work. But then again... you’re not sure."
"Members regularly tell me he gets up in the middle of the night to support them either by taking a phone call or setting up a zoom chat, and we all know he started a third support group in the USA time zone that he was getting up at 4am for. He is without doubt, one of our most deserving members, and in memory of Richard, very deserving."
"In spite of himself finding some he had to learn to live with and overcome some new and more difficult symptoms of dementia (PPA) that suddenly appeared, in spite of them, almost because of them, he kept going. The very groups he hosts, and now overseers as the Global Support Group Manager, also supported him, with a huge show of support and love. This is indicative of his positive effect on others also living with dementia. This new symptoms, which some days he struggles to speak for many hours with, also inspired him to want to set up a support group specifically for anyone with any type of Aphasia caused by dementia."
Congratulations Mick Carmody
