Sharon Brown
Care Partner, Advocate, Support Group Facilitator
About Sharon
Sharon Brown’s journey with dementia began in 1995, long before she realized how profoundly caregiving would shape her life and purpose.
What began as an act of love grew into a decades-long caregiving journey. Sharon spent 16 years caring for her mother, walking alongside her until her passing in 2017. Just two years later, Sharon answered the call to caregiving again, providing five years of care for her mother’s eldest sister.
Through each chapter, Sharon learned firsthand what it means to navigate the emotional, practical, and deeply personal realities of caring for someone living with dementia.
Along the way, she discovered something equally important: care partners need care, information, resources, and community too.
Sharon learned how to seek support and make use of resources available through the Alzheimer’s Association, helping her become more informed, prepared, and empowered throughout her caregiving journey.
Today, she continues to give back as a facilitator for an Alzheimer’s care partner support group, creating space for other care partners to share, learn, connect, and know they do not have to navigate the journey alone.
Symposium Experience
The Care Partner’s Journey: From Caring to Empowerment
At the National Caregivers Month Symposium, Sharon will share her personal story—not as a textbook account of caregiving, but from the perspective of someone who has lived it.
She will reflect on the challenges she faced, the lessons she learned, the resources that helped her, and the ways caregiving changed her life.
Her story will also highlight the importance of reaching for support before you feel you have to do everything alone. Sharon will share how connecting with the Alzheimer’s Association and care partner resources helped her better navigate decisions, challenges, and changes along the way.
What Participants Will Take Away
Through Sharon’s story, care partners will be encouraged to recognize their own strength, seek out available resources, build supportive connections, and permit themselves to receive care while caring for someone else.
Her message is one of perseverance, love, growth, and empowerment—a reminder that while every caregiving journey is different, no care partner should have to travel it alone.