Alzheimer's Awareness Month 2025: Meet Lawrence and Camela

In 2019, Lawrence and Camela Tang celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with a party thrown by their four sons and their families in Nanaimo, B.C. Six years earlier, Lawrence retired from a long, successful career as a plastic surgeon after taking time away from work to fight stage four cancer. After a challenging decade, the couple decided to further commemorate the milestone by enjoying time with family and friends while traveling around the world.

Lawrence and Camela met as teenagers in Trinidad, but their ancestors are from China and India, respectively. Having traveled to China a few years before, they decided to make India the first stop on their trip. It was in an airport food court that Camela first became concerned about her husband.

“We walked around the food court and decided what we wanted,” Camela says. “I told Lawrence, ‘I’ll go get my food and then I’ll come back. I’ll sit with the bags and eat and then you can get your food.’”

Camela returned with her food and sat down to eat while Lawrence bought his meal, but Lawrence didn’t come back.

“I ate as much as I could and then thought, ‘No, something is wrong here,’” Camela says. “After walking around for a while, I found him sitting at a different table, eating his food. He didn’t understand why I was upset.”

The couple continued their travels, but Camela noticed more changes in her husband. He seemed exhausted and needed to nap often, especially after doing anything physically demanding. This was unusual for Lawrence, who used to spend hours in the gym and was an accomplished dragon boater. Sometimes he couldn’t remember where they were. Despite something clearly being wrong, Camela calls the year of travel “phenomenal”.

“It was a wonderful year – one of the highlights of our life together,” Camela says. “We even went home to Trinidad. But then, the pandemic was announced.”

Camela and Lawrence made it home to Canada just in time, but isolation made the changes impossible to ignore. After reaching out to their sons to let them know about their dad’s difficulties, Camela connected with their family doctor. After a follow-up appointment with Lawrence, they were referred to a geriatric specialist who diagnosed Lawrence with Alzheimer’s disease.

“I knew something was wrong,” Lawrence says. “I thought I was going nuts, so when I got the diagnosis I was half expecting it, but it was still disappointing.”

They both experienced grief after receiving the diagnosis. After raising four children, putting them all through university, surviving stage four cancer and adjusting to an early retirement, Camela and Lawrence thought they would finally get a break.

“Lawrence knew what he was losing,” Camela says. “I knew that a lot would be required of me and I wondered, ‘Can I cope? Can I make it?’”

Fortunately, the couple was well supported. Their sons with their spouses and grandchildren visit often and their children formed a group chat to stay in touch and find ways to support their parents. Lawrence and Camela’s extended families, some close friends and neighbours stay in touch and help as needed. Camela and Lawrence have also found support through the Alzheimer Society of B.C., who they were referred to in 2021. While Lawrence was initially resistant, Camela learned a lot about the disease through webinars and eventually convinced Lawrence to join her at an in-person education series, with the caveat that he did not have to say anything – he could just sit there and listen if he didn’t want to participate.

“He ended up enjoying the series and we met some really nice people,” Camela says. “That’s when we realized that this disease doesn’t care who you are, what your education is, how much money you have, how old you are – nothing. You can’t plan for it and you just have to react, but you can choose how you react.”

After participating in the education series, they joined a Coffee & Chat group and later, Lawrence started attending a support group by himself, with other people in the early stages of the disease.

As the couple adjusted to life after the diagnosis, they started to talk about Lawrence’s father, who they suspect lived with Alzheimer’s disease as well.

“In the 1970s, my parents ran a laundry business in Trinidad,” Lawrence says. “When he started to show symptoms and could no longer work, he became more and more isolated. It was not a good thing.”

Camela says Lawrence spoke about his father a lot after he was diagnosed. He would often talk about his father’s experience and compare it to his own journey with the disease, that he was just beginning.

“How we deal with it now is the big thing and I thank God for the Alzheimer Society of B.C.,” Camela says. “Because of what I learned through the Society, I respond to challenging behaviours differently and by saying, ‘Oh, that’s Alzheimer’s; it’s not you.’”   

In 2023, Camela and her sister had heart attacks one week apart; unfortunately, only Camela survived. The health scare was a wake-up call for her.

“My whole focus changed because now it wasn’t just about Lawrence,” Camela says. “You never know how long you have. What if I wasn’t there for him?”

In consultation with their children, Camela and Lawrence reviewed their affairs to ensure they were in order. Then they decided to travel again, thinking it may be the end of their long-distance travels.  First, they attended their son’s art exhibition opening in New York, joined one of their sons in Halifax, visited family members in Toronto and enjoyed a short, beautiful visit to Trinidad.

“We wanted to see everyone and tell them what’s going on and nine times out of 10 they’d say, ‘Wow, you guys are doing so well! We never would have known,’” Camela says. “And that’s what I wanted to leave them with – this is just another stage of life.”

Camela has learned to accept Alzheimer’s disease and embrace help and support from others. She hopes other caregivers – especially women – learn to do the same.

“The superwoman phenomena died years ago,” Camela says. “I lived it. You don’t have to do it on your own and you don’t have to do it all.”

As for Lawrence, he takes each day as it comes and while he hasn’t quite accepted Alzheimer’s disease, he has learned to tolerate it. So far, he’s kept the promise he made to Camela on the day he was diagnosed.

“We walked out of the doctor’s office and sat down on a bench and Lawrence said, ‘I promise I won’t lose my sense of humour,’” Camela says. “And so far, he hasn’t.”