Real-life romance collides with dementia for international bestseller

We Danced: Our Story of Love and Dementia

Scott M. Rose

Scott was raised in the suburbs surrounding Portland, Oregon. He left after college for a time, but never wandered from the Pacific Northwest and eventually returned back home, where he still resides. He spent his career planning and managing the design and construction of schools and spoke in regional, state, and national venues on community engagement and school safety. His greatest joy, his greatest privilege, was his marriage to Maureen, whom he wed in 2000. They travelled, loved, and danced their entire marriage, even when she contracted dementia, Frontotemporal Degeneration (FTD), in early 2016. He cared for her till her passing in 2019. He is a regular contributor to the social media group for the Association for FTD (www.theaftd.org) and co-facilitates a caregiver support group. He also still walks along the Oregon beaches where they often held hands.

We Danced chronicles the beautiful, tragic, and romantic life of my late wife Maureen Patrick-Rose. I relied on her own words, both spoken and written, to capture the moments and feelings of her early life. We met shortly after she turned forty-three and later fell in love, affording me firsthand accounts of her later life - her joys, triumphs, and dreams realized. A cruel form of dementia, Frontotemporal Degeneration (FTD), cut that life short. Since I cared for the love of my life daily, I can include here in-depth and intimate moments of her time with that disease. More so, I strive to preserve the legacy of her strength, spirit, and love till, and through, her passing.

This memoir is relevant to a wide range of adults from 20-somethings on up. Caregiving for a loved one bridges genders, ages, and locations. FTD is the leading dementia for people under 60. It is also a romance.

Tapa dura

It should capture of mood of hope and love with a tinge of sadness. Her smile was her most endearing feature - see sampling of photos.

Keep it easily readable and avoid something that looks like it came form an icon library.