Judy Banyai

Terry Sporleder

Pam Sipple

Family Members Living with Dementia

What Caregivers Need to Know…

Will be shared from the voices and experience of those living with dementia.

Biographies

Judy Banyai is a Caregiver – for many, for years, for some by choice, for others by default.  She had a life rich with rewarding work, travel, adventure, and sport, until she didn’t.  Currently she cares for her husband, who’s had one surgery after another, one hiccup after another – including falls, cancer, chemo and more resulting in both cognitive and significant physical limitations.  Judy excels at caregiving with a practical, positive and problem-solving approach.  She possesses a strong will, an extraordinarily generous and loving heart, and more gumption than most. Judy tackles situations head on, always looking to educate herself and keep the ball moving.  What is best for this situation?  Find it, read it, take a class on it – learn it – apply it.  Judy inspires everyone, always.

Terry Sporleder is a Nurse – surgical and administrative in the day, but 100% on a daily basis – still.  Terry has been a caregiver for 18 years.  Terry is a loving and protective wife and caregiver to her husband, Rich.  Rich has defied incredible odds living through multiple critical spinal surgeries leaving him partially disabled in various ways only to be afflicted with a stroke 5 years ago which led to a current diagnosis of vascular dementia.  Terry attacks these health issues with a clinical approach that somehow syncs amazingly well to her psyche.  While her emotions can run the gamut like most anyone’s would, yet she maintains the uncanny ability to keep her perspective and wits in the right lane.  She teaches us something important on a regular basis.

Pam Sipple lives with brain change.  From a background in banking and real estate, Pam moved to Arizona and recreated herself with a new job when the market crashed.  She found herself in the most magical job ever at ASU in the foreign language department with a job of assigning new student teaching assistants to their classes.  The variety and intrigue of the work and the interactions were 100 percent multicultural, multi-generational and completely fascinating.  She met and got to know people from all over the world and became entrenched in the world of WWII as she met many people who had survived the Holocaust.  Pam still marvels at her amazing life. An accomplished skier and inspired new-found writer – turned author from her work experiences, Pam’s life was literally turned upside down on the ski hill by a snowboarder who crashed into her. Miraculously, no bones were broken but about a month after the accident, her life and world changed as she knew it.  She began spinning – literally.  Multiple doctors could not find the source of the problem.  Finally, one person figured it out and it took a year to quell and finally stop the constant motion in her head.  Pam now experiences challenges in getting words out – speaking articulately as she once did, and faded memories.