A university student from Eastbourne, Sussex, has amassed over 80,000 followers on TikTok by sharing videos of his daily life with his 86-year-old grandmother, who has Alzheimer's disease. The 21-year-old film production student moved in with his grandmother, Agnes, after his university closed in April due to the pandemic, choosing to care for her rather than have multiple carers visit during the COVID-19 crisis.
The student, who wishes to remain anonymous, began posting videos after capturing his grandmother's amused reaction to him playing the video game Animal Crossing. That video gained 50,000 views, and he continued documenting their time together, including mundane activities like colouring and watching TV. Their most popular video, of them colouring together, has reached 1.3 million views.
He describes his grandmother as cheerful despite her memory loss, saying she finds joy in small things and still understands jokes. The TikTok account serves as a 'time capsule' of their memories, and he hopes to challenge misconceptions about dementia, showing that people with the condition remain fully human with their own personalities and emotions.
The Alzheimer's Society estimates 850,000 people in the UK live with dementia, a number projected to rise to 1.6 million by 2040. The student says positive reactions from viewers, including those who say the videos have helped them interact better with loved ones with dementia, inspire him to continue posting. He occasionally shows his grandmother the comments, which make her smile, and they hold livestreams where she reads and responds to viewers.
He states he would stop posting if his grandmother no longer understood what was happening, out of respect for her. One of his favourite comments came from a girl who said the videos inspired her to change her career path to become a carer.
