A Message from Cynthia… 

Leona’s Legacy, named in honor of my beloved mother, holds my heart. It is the most intimate project I have ever undertaken. It was born from my love for this extraordinary woman and from the heartbreak of witnessing the devastating impact of Alzheimer’s disease and the abuse my mother experienced while living with dementia.

I have always felt deeply loved because of Mom’s goodness. She gave me an unwavering sense of self and showed me what compassion, courage, and unconditional love look like. I know that so much of what is good in me came from her. She was my best friend, my angel, my north star. My everything.

Mom was also my protector. Until she could no longer be.

For most of her life, my mother carried burdens that few people ever saw. Her childhood was marked by profound hardship, including an abusive mother and the institutionalization of her father. Later, she endured an abusive marriage, raised five children while navigating the challenges of a family deeply impacted by physical and mental illness, and carried the devastating loss of my father’s suicide.

Yet despite all she endured, Leona’s greatest role in life was holding her family together. She remained a source of love, compassion, and stability for those around her, especially me. She was the protector, the caregiver, and the heart of our family. She spent much of her life caring for others while carrying tremendous emotional and physical burdens of her own, including severe varicose veins, chronic back pain and debilitating hip pain.

As I learned more about the connections between chronic pain, trauma, and brain health, I began to view my mother’s Alzheimer’s journey through a deeper lens. While we cannot know exactly what causes one person to develop dementia, I believe the lifelong burdens she carried deserve to be part of the conversation. Her story is why Leona’s Legacy exists: to help women recognize the impact of chronic pain and stress, support their health, and protect themselves and their loved ones from the vulnerabilities that can accompany dementia.

Over the years, the woman I knew slowly, then suddenly, slipped away. While she looked and sounded the same, everything else changed. Her personality. Her judgment. Her reasoning. And yes, her memory. This cruel disease robbed my mother of so much, leaving her vulnerable at a time when she needed protection most.

The family she worked so hard to hold together ultimately became fractured. In the final chapter of her life, some of the very family members she had spent decades loving and caring for became sources of harm, including financial exploitation and isolation from those who loved her. Instead of the support, safety, and protection she deserved, Mom experienced the very vulnerabilities that Leona’s Legacy now seeks to address.

The only mistake my mom made was trusting those she loved to do right by her. They didn’t.

And as the family scapegoat, that harm extended to me. Some of Mom’s last lucid words were, “I can’t protect you from them anymore.”

I couldn’t protect her from them either.

But through Leona’s Legacy, together we can work to protect ourselves and others. We can raise awareness about the connection between chronic pain and dementia, encourage proactive approaches to brain health, and advocate for protections for those living with cognitive decline.

Love. Joy. Goodness. Truth. Light. Fairness. Those were the qualities that defined my mother. Through this project, we will carry her legacy forward.