Chasing Minutes: when every moment matters
By Zoe Waters, Executive Director, Barwon Health Foundation
Every minute of every day has the potential to become a memory. Together, these memories shape us. They shape our personalities, what is important to us and how we see the world. They connect us to the people we love, the lives we have lived and the experiences that have made us who we are.
But when those memories begin to fade, every minute can take on a new significance.
In 2026, Dementia Australia estimates 446,500 Australians are living with dementia. Around each person is a much wider circle - partners, children, grandchildren, friends, colleagues and carers - whose lives are also changed by the disease. Dementia does not only affect older Australians; an estimated 1,500 Australian children are also living with childhood dementia.
During Dementia Action Week, from 21–27 September 2026, the Forget Me Not Committee, a group of ten local people, each personally impacted by the experience of a loved one living with dementia, is asking our community to consider what it means to chase minutes.
This year, the Forget Me Not Committee has created a powerful short film sharing the raw and deeply personal experience of a local family touched by dementia – with their father diagnosed with dementia and their mother with Alzheimer’s.
Their story is one of love, grief and resilience. Delivered powerfully through the eyes of a loving son, Justin.
It is a story about moments and time.
As dementia progresses some families can find themselves holding more tightly to the moments that remain, they are chasing these minutes. When this clarity unexpectedly returns in people with advanced dementia it is known as paradoxical lucidity.
It describes an unexpected episode of meaningful communication or connection in someone with severe dementia who had previously appeared to have lost that capacity.
Researchers are still working to understand why these episodes occur. They can be brief and may involve speech, recognition, awareness or non-verbal connection. For families, however, their significance can be profound.
For a moment, someone may recognise their husband or wife. They may remember their child’s name. They may make eye contact, share a memory or communicate in a way their family thought had been lost, and then, that moment will pass.
It is difficult to imagine a more powerful reminder of the value of a minute. Justin’s sister, Edwina Hanneysee, is the Co-Chair and creative genius behind the Forget Me Not Committee.
The entire Committee understands the impact dementia has not only on the person diagnosed, but on everyone who loves and cares for them.
Because each one of them has been touched by a loved one impacted by dementia.
Through fundraising, advocacy and awareness, the Committee has worked tirelessly to ensure dementia remains highly visible within our community and to support care for local people and families impacted by the disease.
Together they have raised over $185,000 for the Barwon Health Foundation’s Forget Me Not Fund.
With Chasing Minutes, they have chosen to tell that story in an incredibly personal way.
Rather than relying on statistics alone, the short 2.15-minute film takes us inside one local family’s experience.
It is confronting and filled with a son’s love for his parents.
Every life is made up of millions of minutes. Some become memories. For many families impacted by dementia, they are not simply counting time.
They are chasing minutes.
To watch Chasing Minutes and hear this local family’s story, click here.
Thank you to the Forget Me Not Committee for raising awareness and funds for dementia research conducted at Barwon Health.
The Barwon Health Foundation extends its heartfelt thanks to the family for generously sharing such a deeply personal story, and to the Forget Me Not Committee for continuing to shine a light on the impact of dementia in our community.
