When a loved one has Alzheimer's, "you lose them twice," said Lucy Lamm, whose mother, Bonnie Finch, has Alzheimer's. "Once when their mind goes and once when they pass away." Bonnie celebrated her 91st birthday in a Wilson, North Carolina memory care unit with Lucy and other children on Oct. 8, 2014. The birthday would be her last. Here, Jeff Beam, left, kisses Bonnie as he sits with his partner, Bonnie's son, Stanley.

Mary Jo Bullock, one of Bonnie's daughters, brings balloons into Bonnie's room at the memory care unit in Wilson, North Carolina.

Stanley and two nurses help Bonnie get into bed.

Lucy Lamm, Bonnie's daughter, spends time with her mother.

Lucy talks with her husband Willis Lamm on the phone after visiting Bonnie.

Lucy looks at her mother's ashes after a burial service in Wilson, North Carolina. In Bonnie's obituary, the family asked friends to support the NC Alzheimer's Association, a non-profit doing Alzheimer's research and supporting those affected by the disease, instead of sending flowers.

Lucy sets out a photo of her mother in a reception room before a memorial service at First Presbyterian Church in Wilson, North Carolina.