My Dementia

The Body That Is Left

How Gerda Saunders talks to her family about helping her die.

How do you ask your family to help you die? And what does it mean to choose to stop living?

Each episode of this series follows Gerda Saunders, who in 2010 learned she had cerebral microvascular disease, a precursor to dementia. In 2014, Slate published a deeply personal essay by Saunders, “My Dementia,” that enthralled readers. She continues to document her life since the diagnosis and is working on a memoir, due out next year. And now VideoWest, from Utah NPR affiliate KUER, has produced a new visual chronicle of what happens next. Watch the first episode here; the second episode is above. Slate will continue to publish this occasional series in the months ahead.