An Elk Grove man is chronicling his elderly father's battle with dementia on TikTok and receiving lots of positive feedback.
A typical post goes like:
"Hey what’s up dad?" Dan Salinger says as he greets his 89-year-old dad, Ed.
Ed: "That's what I want to know, what's up?"
Dan "...well, you're living here now."
That's the beginning of a 60 second long TikTok posted by Dan Sallinger as he shares life with his father Ed. It has over a half million views and their daily TikToks altogether are about to cross the 6 million view mark.
Dan created the page to encourage people to consider home care and also humanize the day-to-day reality of dementia.
The posts are informative, sometimes sad, but often somewhat real-world funny.
"If you don’t inject humor into the situation it’s unbearable - caregiving without laughing at it occasionally and being able to relax about it is not a good life, it’s serious," Dan said. "But, add a little bit of a lighter side to it and try to inject humor and sarcasm when appropriate."
Dan said he tries to keep the posts positive and act more like a son than a caregiver.
They have about 4.7 million TikTok followers.
"I’m not a very famous person," Ed said. "I'm just an average normal guy who grows up to have a good family and who is very lucky to have a good wife and kids who grew up healthy and smart."
Dementia is a condition that mostly affects older adults but can affect anyone.
The CDC describes it as "general term for the impaired ability to remember, think, or make decisions that interferes with doing everyday activities."
Ed turns 90 years old on March 26th.
You can find Dan and Ed on TikTok at @dsalnorcal.
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