Daniel del Castillo Gonz\u00e1lez<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia worldwide. It is a neurodegenerative disease that progressively destroys neurons and affects memory, language, and spatial orientation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Manuel L\u00f3pez knows this reality well. For seventeen years, he cared for his wife, Lita, as the disease slowly progressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, he has turned that reality into 'Faros', or \"Lighthouses\" in English. A project that offers support for those experiencing grief, suffering, and the challenges of caring for a loved one through a Christian perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MANUEL L\u00d3PEZ-L\u00d3PEZ<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Beacons for Those Who Remain<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some people tell me,\u201cYou've had such bad luck.\u201d I think I've been incredibly lucky. There are people who lose their wives overnight. I had 17 years to care for her. If you experience Alzheimer's only through the loss itself, it's very hard. But I had 17 years to keep loving her.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n That experience also transformed his faith. Rather than asking why God had allowed the illness, he began to recognize how the presence of others sustained his family during the most difficult moments. He calls these people \"invisible angels.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n MANUEL L\u00d3PEZ-L\u00d3PEZ<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Beacons for Those Who Remain<\/p>\n\n\n\n We all made the sacrifices we had to make. At first, we saw them as sacrifices, but later we realized those sacrifices became companionship, and that companionship became a reward.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Faros<\/em> brings together the journals Manuel kept throughout his wife's illness and the paintings Lita created before Alzheimer's began to erase her memories.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It also includes the journals written by Lita during her illness, showing her process of acceptance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n MANUEL L\u00d3PEZ-L\u00d3PEZ<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Beacons for Those Who Remain<\/p>\n\n\n\n She left me a very clear message, which is on the website I shared with you. She says, 'Don't look for me where I am buried, because I am not there.' And I feel her beside me.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Grief doesn't begin with the death of a loved one. It starts when an illness changes a family's life, when a project or job is lost, or even when one's self-image is lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n MANUEL L\u00d3PEZ-L\u00d3PEZ<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Beacons for Those Who Remain<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI would say that, for me, the key is to not dwell on the past. The past is behind us; we have to let it go. They should focus on the positive aspects of the situation; they're still together. And they should remember that there will always be someone to help. If they believe that and are certain it's true, it will happen. They shouldn't look for someone to blame. No one is to blame. What's done is done.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n For this family, Alzheimer's disease became a path toward discovering a different way of loving. Their faith allowed them to look beyond the illness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Daniel del Castillo Gonz\u00e1lez Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia worldwide. It is a neurodegenerative disease that progressively destroys neurons and affects memory, language, and spatial orientation. Manuel L\u00f3pez knows this reality well. For seventeen years, he cared for his wife, Lita, as the disease slowly progressed. Today, he has turned that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":758,"featured_media":92971,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"acf":{"video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/SyyqkoalDzk","video_descarga":"https:\/\/attuale.romereports.com\/news\/balzheimerlitaeng.mp4","international_url":"https:\/\/attuale.romereports.com\/news\/balzheimerlitaint.mp4","type":"bn","newsletter":"si"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92975"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/758"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92975"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92975\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92978,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92975\/revisions\/92978"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}