A Little Girl Sings For Her Grandmother With Dementia
The protagonist of this story is called Sophie Flynn and she is 5 years old. Born in Ireland, the little girl became famous around the world for a moment of tenderness with her grandmother with dementia.
This little girl was lucky enough to be able to share a few moments of authentic complicity with her great-grandmother .
Brenda Brock is an 82-year-old lady who suffers from senile dementia, but thanks to her granddaughter, able to offer her the best stimuli to remember, she was able to get back in touch with reality.
What Sophie has managed to do with her great-grandmother is something unique and unparalleled. That’s why the girl’s parents wanted to videotape them and make them known to the whole world via the internet.
We invite you to discover the story of Sophie and Brenda with us.
Sophie and her great-grandmother Brenda
Brenda Brock, suffering from dementia
Brenda Brock has been in the geriatric ward for a long time. The staff takes care of all your needs, offering you the attention and stimuli you need to preserve at least some of your cognitive abilities.
At this point, it must be said that however many positive stimuli Mrs. Brock receives from nurses and doctors, they are not comparable to direct interaction with family and loved ones.
Although dementia and diseases such as Alzheimer’s confuse people’s faces, names and often identities, affections and emotions remain.
There is an inexplicable union of brain structures connected to emotions: the hippothalamus, the amygdala, the limbic system …
Somehow, the cognitive impairment associated with neurodegenerative processes does not affect many fundamental systems associated with the emotional world.
Sophie Flynn
Little Sophie hadn’t seen her great-grandmother in a very long time. He didn’t even remember it. For a 5-year-old girl like her, life revolved around her parents, grandparents and her little dogs.
Great-grandmother Brenda lived in a senior center which is not usually very popular with children.
One day, Sophie’s parents decided it was time to bring grandmother and granddaughter together. The little girl had to have the opportunity to share a few moments with a member of her family, blood of her blood.
Sometimes parents have almost irrational fears. In Sophie’s case, her parents feared that seeing her great-grandmother in bad shape, the little girl would be frightened.
Brenda, in fact, was bedridden, could not move and did not recognize anyone, so she was not good company for a child.
But they were wrong. Psychologists had also warned them of the lady’s possible reaction to meeting her niece.
She could be excited or surprised, and if there is one aspect to consider with dementia patients, it is to maintain their peace of mind, not cause disruption, not break their routine.
And what happened to the two protagonists of our story?
When Sophie’s parents entered Brenda’s room, they were surprised at the child’s spontaneity and naturalness.
She was not surprised, she was not frightened and showed no negative reaction upon seeing her sick grandmother.
The little girl reached her grandmother’s bed and started singing her a song: “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine”, with her sweet childish voice as she caressed her with such tenderness.
When the song finished, Sophie hugged and kissed her grandmother, without hesitation. What happened in the meantime was something magical for Sarah Miller, Sophie’s mom.
As she herself told The Mirror newspaper : “It was incredible, we couldn’t believe it. Grandmother and granddaughter were so happy and exuded so much harmony and magic that it seemed they had known each other forever. As if they were the only two people in the room ”.
The scene was recorded by Sophie’s grandfather, Sandy Miller, who then uploaded the video to YouTube, earning millions of views in no time.
Here are the magical moments between Sophie and her great-grandmother:
Music and dementia
- Music and singing have been shown to have a therapeutic effect on dementia patients.
- Music is always related to positive stimuli and every stimulus generates calm and well-being.
- A better state of mind in patients suffering from dementia allows them to reduce agitation and improve cognitive function.
What happened to Sophie and her great-grandmother Brenda goes a little beyond the music-singing relationship. The little girl is a significant emotional stimulus. It’s possible that great-grandmother didn’t even recognize her granddaughter.
However, the little girl’s warmth, her caresses and kisses are all aspects that the grandmother has elaborated from an emotional point of view.
Somehow, that moment of magic and complicity will remain forever in the heart of the little girl and grandmother. The moments full of positive emotions and of union with our fellow men create “cognitive anchors”. They stimulate memory, affections and well-being.
This is news that for its simplicity, humanity and magic, we wanted to share with you readers, paying a small tribute to all those people suffering from dementia and their families, who take care of them every day.
