Community Corner
Living with Early Onset Dementia
A Presentation by Tracey Lind and Emily Ingalls on Saturday, October 26th at St. Mark's Church in Westford
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Westford will host two nationally known experts in living with early onset dementia—one of whom is in the early stages of the devastating illness, and the other is her caregiver. Rev. Tracey Lind and her spouse, Emily Ingalls, will give a very personal talk about how their lives have been upended by Frontotemporal Degeneration (FTD), the number one form of dementia in people under the age of 60.
The couple, who recently appeared on CBS’s 60 Minutes and CBS News, will speak about the spiritual insights and lessons gained from a life complicated by FTD. The talk, “Dementia From the Inside Out,” will take place on Saturday, Oct. 26, at 1 p.m. at St. Mark’s, 75 Cold Spring Road, Westford. A discussion and reception will follow at 2:30 p.m.
An Episcopal priest, community activist and retired dean of Trinity Cathedral, Cleveland’s oldest church congregation, Rev. Lind spent more than 30 years working for inter-faith relations, social and environmental justice, sustainable urban development, arts and culture, and progressive theology. She was diagnosed with FTD in 2016.
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Ingalls, who spent more than 20 years in commercial real estate and project management, now considers herself “Chief Logistics Officer,” responsible for managing a life and home turned upside down by this disease.
Since stepping down as dean, Lind has traveled around the country and the world, speaking and preaching about her FTD.
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“Out of pain comes joy, out of brokenness comes wholeness, and out of death comes new life,” says Lind, on living with dementia.
What causes it is unclear, but FTD attacks the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain, which control personality and speech, and is always fatal. It is not Alzheimer's disease, which degrades the part of the brain responsible for memory.
This free talk is sponsored by St. Mark's, St. Catherine's, First Parish United, and Bridges by EPOC, all of Westford; Church of the Good Shepherd of Acton; All Saints’ Episcopal Church and Congregation Shalom of Chelmsford; and St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church of Ayer. For more information, contact Herb Elliott 978-501-8479.