Arabella Bengson - Comox Valley Honouree

2025 IG Wealth Management Walk for Alzheimer's, presented by Go Auto

Arabella Bengson starts each day in her “Eden” in the Comox Valley by greeting the sunrise through a practice of Chi-Kung (or Chi-Gong) in her indoor garden room.

“Chi Kung focuses on your breathing,” Arabella says. “There is a lot of visualization and easy movements for health and healing. I consider this my first daily gift from the universe, and I look for presents throughout my day from that first gift of the sunrise.”

Reaching this outlook took time and patience – a journey that started in 2015, when Arabella was first diagnosed with a Traumatic Brain Injury soon after losing her husband. The following year, after experiencing forgetfulness, difficulties expressing herself in speech and writing, and losing much of her brain’s executive functions, Arabella was diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI).

“I had always lived by my wits,” Arabella says. “So, I started to wonder whether life would be enough without my executive functions.”

It was only after she began meeting people who had been living with dementia for over a decade or two, that she realized dementia has several faces. She saw people living well and productively with dementia, a stark contrast to what her once brilliant and dynamic father presented several years before he passed away from the disease.

Although Arabella’s optimism has been prevalent throughout her life, she greatly attributes her positive outlook to the community she has stayed connected to after her diagnosis. She actively participates in Toastmasters International and has found joy in the excursions and activities – especially dragon boating – planned by the Comox Valley Head Injury Society.

Since turning to the Alzheimer Society of B.C. for guidance, she has become an advocate and valued partner, a journey started by attending in-person Minds in Motion® sessions, a fitness and social program for people living with any form of early-stage dementia.

“The exercises were excellent,” Arabella says of the program, which she continued to participate in online while living in Mexico during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. “The conversations were often fun and brain boosting.”

In 2023, Arabella was invited to speak at an in-person panel discussion for Alzheimer Society of B.C. staff members. There, she met two other lived experience partners who have been living with dementia for years. Amazed by their mental and physical health, she asked what they did, what they ate and how they remained so engaged.

“One said, ‘I take it one day at a time,’” Arabella remembers. “The other, a former nurse, continued to live an engaged life and contribute in many ways.”

Arabella’s journey of hope continues as she plans her next travel adventure, what summer will look like in her garden and as she continues to research how to live well with dementia.

“Serenity and simple joys are more precious to us now than they were before,” she says. “And such is the blessing I wish upon you all.”

Join Arabella on Sunday, May 25 for the Comox Valley IG Wealth Management Walk for Alzheimer's.