30 Years Caring and Caregiving
Sage Aging ElderCare Guide is more than a business to publishers, Wes and Liz Craven. It is personal. The help that it provides to older adults and their families is important and is the very essence of their passion that fuels their continued work in the senior community.
Mabel Abernathy A Fall, Surgery, and Alzheimer’s
The seeds of the Sage Aging ElderCare Guide were sown more than 30 years ago when Wes Craven’s (founder of Sage Aging ElderCare Guide) grandmother, Mabel, was hospitalized due to hip surgery following a fall. Her situation was further complicated by her Alzheimer’s disease. Good information was hard to come by back then, and Wes struggled to find adequate nursing care and rehabilitation for Mabel. He knew other families must be facing similar challenges, and so was born, Sage Aging ElderCare Guide.
Roxyann Beacom A Battle with Cancer
Life threw another curveball at Wes when his mother, Roxyann, was diagnosed with a widespread, painful cancer. Thanks to the support of Wes’s stepfather (Hank), family, home care services and hospice care, Roxyann was able to spend her remaining days at home in the warmth of her loved ones’ presence.
Hank Beacom The Slow Creep of Alzheimer’s Disease
In the midst of Roxyann’s battle with cancer, Hank (Wes’s stepfather) began showing signs of Alzheimer’s disease. Following Roxyann’s passing, Hank’s dementia advanced to the point where independent living became untenable. Hank decided to move into an assisted living community near Wes and Liz’s family home. Eventually, as Hank’s Alzheimer’s progressed, Wes and Liz welcomed him into their home, where he spent his remaining days.
Dilfia Taylor Pancreatic Cancer’s Grasp
Just a few years later after the passing of Roxyann, Liz Craven (Wes’s wife and copublisher of the guide) assumed the primary caregiver role for her mother (Dilfia), when she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. This caregiving experience offered new challenges as Dilfia lived more than 2 hours away. Thanks to flexibility from all involved and the support of family and friends, Dilfia was able to have two and a half more years to be with her family