Heartwarming video of great-grandmother with dementia singing to baby: 'Are you listening?'
By Merryn Porter |
D?ementia is a cruel disease, robbing sufferers of their memory and depriving their family members of the loved ones they once knew.
It is also a strange disease that can see someone unable to remember a name or a face one minute then surprise those around them by suddenly recalling a forgotten memory, fact or even a song.
Now a video of a great-grandmother who suffers dementia singing a much-loved song to a newborn baby has gone viral.
Connie Lynn Hanson, of the US, uploaded the heart-warming video last month of her mother singing to her new great-grandchild.
Watch the video above.
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Hanson, who cares full-time for her mother, had become a grandmother for the first time the previous day to a baby boy named Grayson.
But it is what happened when she introduced her mother, identified as 89-year-old Elinor Hanson by TODAY Parents in the US, to her great-grandson that has delighted the internet.?
The video begins with her mother gentling holding Grayson, who is wrapped snugly in a wrap.
"OK it goes like this, now are you listening?" she says to Grayson before launching into song.
"I love you. A bushel and a peck. ?A bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck. A hug around the neck and a barrel and a heap. A barrel and a heap and I'm talking in my sleep about you. About you. 'cause I love you," she ended the song before saying, "I'm going to cry." She then continues to sing and hum the tune.
Hanson uploaded the video to her Instagram account with the comment, "Great grandma meeting and holding her newest great-grandson and singing a song she sung to all the grandkids.
"A song my kids know very well. 'I love you a bushel and a peck'.
"This night made her so happy. It's amazing how the brain can lose so much but music somehow stays. Music really is amazing for healing and memory."
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She uploaded the video with the hashtags, greatgrandma #grandson #musicislife #musictherapy #dementia #iloveyou #iloveyouabushelandapeck.
Many people commented on the video.
"Thank you for sharing your precious moment with all of us! Definitely one to cherish always!" wrote one.
"My mom used to sing this to me as well. She has dementia. I'll have to see if her brain remembers this as well," wrote another.
"The sweetest video ever. Both my dad and my brother suffered from dementia. It is such a cruel disease. I'm so glad this family will have this video to remember this sweet lady for years to come," said another commenter.
She has since posted a follow-up video of her mum singing "You are my Sunshine" to little Grayson after a request from a follower.?
In an interview with TODAY Parents, Hanson said her mother had sung the song to her five children, 18 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren, but she was amazed she had been able to recall it after her dementia worsened rapidly since 2020.
Hanson said her mother has always been musical, singing at weddings and in choirs in Providence, Utah, where she had lived for 48 years.
But more than the song itself, it was the moment her mother said "OK it goes like this, now are you listening?" to her great-grandson that she found most moving because "that's my mum that I remember."
In a post on Instagram this week, ?Hanson wrote, "Mum is reaching a lot of people with her song," and added she didn't realise "how many people knew this song."
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