THE CAREGIVER

In Jackson’s debut memoir, a dedicated, full-time caregiver for his mother relates his own experience and offers advice for others.

The author gave up his career as a marketing analyst to care for his mother, Gloria. At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, he rushed Gloria to the emergency room when she showed signs of having suffered a stroke. Doctors put her on a ventilator and kept her in the hospital for nearly two weeks. It was clear that she would require 24-hour care, as she was on oxygen and needed a BPAP machine to relieve excess carbon dioxide at night. Jackson, however, refused to put her in a nursing home, which, he believed, wouldn’t provide her with the best medicine: love. He faced numerous hardships as a caregiver, including multiple hurricanes while at his mother’s New Orleans house. They lost power for two weeks, though he was prepared with reserves of food and water and a generator for the medical machines and household appliances. Unfortunately, mother and son couldn’t evade the ongoing pandemic, both testing positive for Covid-19 after a physical therapist’s home visit. The author’s brief account is succinct, doubling as a helpful guide for potential caregivers of loved ones. The author details Gloria’s healthy diet as well as her daily routines for necessary care. His story is inspiring, as the author has persevered throughout multiple setbacks, his love for his mother and his faith in God intact. Jackson continually encourages readers, ensuring them that the physical, emotional, and financial stress of caregiving can be overcome. The refreshingly candid text plainly outlines his day-to-day tasks and doesn’t shy from condemning certain friends and family members—whom the author describes as “selfish people who have no compassion or understanding”—or nursing homes for what he sees as their lack of compassion. A handful of sometimes confusing typos and grammatical oversights prove distracting in this otherwise stellar book.

A true-life story of family and love that’s chock-full of benevolence and perceptiveness.