Man caring for wife with dementia seeks clothing advice, internet steps in

A husband from Massachusetts has received an outpouring of support after asking for some household chores advice on Reddit.

Bart, a full-time carer for his wife, Kathy, who has dementia, took to the NoStupidQuestions forum to ask the women on the discussion website how often they wash their bras.

In the post, he explained that he has taken over all the household tasks, including the laundry. He told Newsweek that even though he was doing this regularly, he wasn’t seeing many of Kathy’s bras in the wash. She no longer remembers what she wore or how often, so he turned to the Reddit community for help.

“It’s the type of question that you can ask there without having to ask one of your buddies’ wives. It might be a little awkward,” Bart, 69, said.

He explained that Kathy’s dementia is severe and her short-term memory is “unbelievably bad.” Although it’s a heavy topic of discussion, Bart shared a funny anecdote with Newsweek.

About a year ago, Bart’s job was to do the grocery shopping and Kathy’s was to do the laundry. “It dawned on me that it’s been months since I needed to buy laundry detergent. [I] come to find out that Kathy was doing that laundry all right, but forgetting to add detergent,” he said.

Bart originally shared his question to the NoStupidQuestions subreddit three days ago, and another user took a screen grab of it, posted it on the MadeMeSmile subreddit and wrote how it made them smile. “What a wholesome interaction,” the user added.

Both posts combined have received hundreds of comments from other Redditors.

“I don’t wash my own bras nearly as often as this man washes his wife’s. That’s true love and dedication right there,” one user commented. Another wrote, “This is so heartwarming. True love knows no bounds.”

The response on Reddit was completely unexpected to Bart, but he managed to learn a few things after reaching out.

“It also was extremely nice to hear from a few of the commenters saying that I was a good guy for asking. I surely was not looking for compliments, but it really touched my hear,” he said.

Bart also told Newsweek that he finds it tough to take care of Kathy while doing everything around the house without support from family.

“It’s all good, though. I love her, and she loves me. I’m sure that I can make it work,” he said.