oul and Else were married for 57 years. For the last four, their granddaughter, photographer Sofie Mathiassen, documented their life together while Poul progressed through the stages of Parkinson’s disease and dementia. Else stayed by Poul’s side until his death, first in their home in Skanderborg, Denmark, and later in a nursing home when it became too hard to care for him at home. She visited every day.
Mathiassen’s photographs are an intimate window into the end of a life, and a lifelong partnership. They are testament to a specific love story, but they will also be familiar to anyone who has cared for a loved one with dementia. “Else and Poul’s story is very universal,” Mathiassen told STAT, “because it deals with themes and emotions recognizable for many people whether you have dementia or not.”photography grant, which supports visual storytelling about Alzheimer’s and dementia.
“The staff is kind, but they never comb his hair the right way. So I have to do it, or he doesn’t look like my Poul.”When the nurses told Else that Poul could die soon, she stayed with him all the time at the nursing home, sleeping on a mattress next to his bed.“You keep loving each other. No matter what, no matter sickness. He was my husband. We’ve been together all life, we were supposed to be together until we couldn’t anymore.”One week after Poul died, Else celebrated her 84th birthday.