'She's still there': Munah Bagharib shares what changed her perspective on relationship with dementia-stricken mum

Local actress Munah Bagharib was recently brought to tears as she opened up about her relationship with her mother, who was diagnosed with dementia nine years ago.

Munah, who turns 39 later this month, was on a recent episode of radio station Ria897's talk show Kisah Kopi, hosted by DJ Azura Goh.

Her mother, Azeezah Aidid, was 61 when she was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia, a type of dementia that affects behaviour and language.

As she was about to talk about how she felt back then, Munah warned 32-year-old Azura: "I'm going to cry, okay?"

"To see what it does to a person, that was difficult. I thought, 'This is damn cruel,'" she said as she wiped her tears.

"I felt like she was being taken away from me."

Munah went on to share that she misses talking to her mum about boys and life, bringing Azura to tears too.

"She was the person I talked to about everything," said Munah.

But a moment came which changed how she viewed her situation, and it came to her in a dream, during a point in time when she was feeling sad and missed having a mother figure.

"I expressed it to her (her mother) in my dream. I said, 'I miss having you to talk to about things,' and she was like, 'I'm still there for you, as much as I can be, I'm still there,'" she said.

She recalled waking up and thinking, "Oh my god, what a crazy dream to have."

"That really shifted my perspective because she's still there and I can still rant to her," said Munah, to which Azura added: "In a different way now."

Munah revealed that she recently "went through something" and talked to her mum about it.

"I started crying. She came to me and she said, 'Oh Mun,' and she was just holding me. That was all I needed. I just needed my mum, and she's still there," she shared.

In a 2021 interview with AsiaOne, Munah and her younger brother Ziyad Bagharib had talked about the difficulties of being a caregiver, especially in the early stages of Azeezah's dementia.

"I remember in the beginning, we just felt like we had to overhaul our lives, shape new schedules and build new routines," Ziyad had shared then, with Munah adding that they even made an Excel spreadsheet for various activities.

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It took Munah a few years to work through her caregiver's guilt and understand that taking time for herself is also important.

She also shared lighthearted moments, recalling one video call in particular.

She was with someone she had been talking to and asked her mother on the other end of the line to say hi.

Munah shared with a laugh: "She was like, 'Eh it's a different one.' And I'm like, 'No, no, no it's the same one!'"

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syarifahsn@asiaone.com