The Art 2 Aging

Here’s a shocking fact: 98% of  dementia sufferers are being cared for at home. That’s shocking because it means that the caregiver is likely a family member, often a spouse or adult child.

Dementia victims suffer greatly and so do their caregivers, especially family members.

That’s why what Allyson Schrier is doing is so amazing. Allyson’s husband was diagnosed with a form of dementia when he was only 47. He never worked after that and Allyson became his caregiver.

She knew nothing about dementia, how it manifests, how it impacts the sufferer or how it was going to impact her and her kids.

But Allyson was not someone to throw up her hands and quit. She took the bunch of lemons that life had handed her and turned them into lemonade.

How she did that is the subject of our episode this week on The Art 2 Aging.

This week features a captivating story of a man named Tom Meschery.

If you’re a fan of the NBA, then you’ll likely remember Tom.

The Mad Russian. Number 14 for the Philadelphia and Golden State Warriors and the Seattle Supersonics. Teammate of Wilt Chamberlain.

When it comes to life stories, Tom has an amazing one. It starts with overcoming adversity as a child, rising to become a star in the NBA, staggering under the weight of a terminal illness at 65, finally meeting the love of his life and now writing mystery novels that sell well at the age of 85.

It could be a story  sprung from the mind of a Hollywood screenwriter. But it isn’t. Because it’s true.

Tom was born Tomislav Mescheryiakov. His parents were Russian; his father an officer in the White Russian Army.

At the outset of the Russian Revolution, the family fled to Manchuria. But when the Japanese invaded China, Tom, his mother and sister spent the war in a Japanese internment camp before being allowed to emigrate to the United States.

Click the podcast link above to listen to this fascinating story.

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Dr. Warrick Bishop

If you know  anyone who has seen a cardiologist, it was probably because their general practitioner was alerted to a potential problem and referred them to a heart specialist.

That’s often the pattern, particularly among older adults. In fact, those over the age of 65 are more prone to heart problems as the heart muscle begins to wear out.

Trouble arises when we take the heart for granted long enough that symptoms occur in the first place.

But what if there was a way to minimize potential heart problems or avoid them altogether, regardless of age?

Dr. Warrick Bishop believes that can be the case. Warrick is an Australian cardiologist who  has written a number of best-selling books on heart health. More than that, though,  Warrick is a doc with a difference.

He’s a preventative cardiologist. His primary aim and his sole approach is to prevent heart attacks from happening in the first place. And his website is where you can find his books, courses and membership to the Healthy Heart Network. Knowledge is power!

To listen to our interview with Dr. Bishop, click the link at the top of the page, subscribe for free, and enjoy the episode.

There comes a point in the lives of many adult children when they are faced with the challenge of changing roles with their parents.

The child becomes the parent and the parent becomes the child who needs their grown offspring to help them as they get older.

Laura Tamblyn-Watts, the CEO of CanAge, an advocacy organization for seniors in Canada, has written an important book to help adult children deal with challenges they’ve never faced before.  We talked with her recently

There are people in this world who refuse to accept the idea that they have limitations placed on them.

Especially those people who are what the rest of us would consider “old”. And we applaud them.

Fred Woolman is one such person. And you’ve got to hear his story to really appreciate that he doesn’t give a damn what the rest of the world might think he “should” be.

Click the link to listen to the interview.

How do we stay positive about our lives as we get older? Can we stay positive or is it too late for us?

It’s a tough assignment made tougher by the fact that the majority of us have spent a lifetime trying to control the events we experience, attempting to bend life to our will.

As we get older, though, the years of hitting our heads against brick walls adds up and our optimism in life slides or goes into an outright tailspin.

What’s the use of trying anymore?

Well, it depends on how you’re trying.

Dr. Paula Petry, PhD knows firsthand how useless head-banging is. She also knows firsthand how beneficial it is to let go of trying to control outcomes.

The story of how she got there is remarkable. A daughter born with spina bifida. All the doctors telling her that Alexandra would die shortly after birth. Saying “no” and taking her baby home to look after her for 12 arduous years, fighting for the best care, the best specialists, and the best social programs for all developmentally challenged kids in her home state of Florida. In the process, losing her marriage, suffering financial hardship – the pile of pain and disappointment kept growing.

But, at some point shortly after her daughter transitioned at age 12, Paula began to awaken to new ways of experiencing life and she hasn’t looked back.

Today, at the age of 71, Paula is an energy practitioner, educator, speaker and author whose message you will hear loud and clear in this episode of The Art 2 Aging Podcast.

In this short trailer episode, we lay out our content strategy for the weekly episodes in the future. We have lined up experts from the medical profession, including cardiologists, integrative medicine practitioners and even energy healers. Our scope is broad, informative and thought-provoking.