Meet the caregivers

Over the course of your life, chances are good that you will be put in a position to care for someone. At any point in time, one in four Canadians are providing care to a loved one. 

Maybe it's a responsibility that you take on by choice, or something you find yourself doing unexpectedly... Needing to figure out how to care for someone as you go along. 

And it's not easy. There are moments of doubt, fear and complete exhaustion. But there's also times of joy, laughter, and the deep meaningful connection that comes with being such a crucial part of someone's life. 

On this Now or Never, we are celebrating the caregivers.

• Drop by the Young Caregivers Association in St. Catharines, Ont. There, youth caregivers — between five and 25 years old — gather to find support and empowerment.
• Living with vascular dementia, 77-year-old Tanis Rummery is fiercely independent and chooses to live alone. Find out how she does it.
• Hear the sweet sounds of Voices in Motion, a choir made up of people experiencing memory loss and their caregivers.
• Being a professional caregiver to a Canadian family is something Aileen Vezgal is fiercely proud of. But her job also comes with a sense of sadness — because it's been five years since she's seen her own family back in the Philippines.
• Who is a caregiver in your life that deserves to be celebrated? Join in on a surprise party for Karen Kaplen, a volunteer whose clients have called her "Superwoman" and a "real-life guardian angel."
• Ian Sprague and Janine Couture never imagined they'd become full-time bird caregivers. But when word got out that Ian and Janine took in orphaned and injured birds, there was no stopping it.
• In their 30 years together, Ken Walker and Mark Demers have often come as a pair — even working together as fierce LGBT activists in Vancouver. But today, as Ken lives with early-onset dementia, they're taking on a new fight.

This episode originally aired in Feberuary 2020.