\n Parton\u2019s husband, Carl Dean, died in March 2025. While the couple never disclosed what disease he had, Parton shared that he was \u201cill for quite a while.\u201d Parton, of course, died this week of cancer, <\/a>which she didn\u2019t talk about publicly, following a couple of years of health issues including kidney stones. We don\u2019t know how she didn\u2019t take care of herself, but her few words speak volumes given that she had been taking such extensive care of her husband.\n <\/p>\n \n While that video update 10 months ago may have felt like a small detail in the life of one of America\u2019s most beloved musicians, it gives voice to a big problem immediately recognized by many of America\u2019s 63 million caregivers.<\/a>\n <\/p>\n \n When you care for someone else, it is all too easy to neglect to care for yourself.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe data shows this is happening in millions of homes across America. Caregivers\u2019 health is worn down by the labor of care. Even with her privilege, Dolly is not an exception,\u201d said Jason Resendez, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Caregiving.\n <\/p>\n \n Some 23% of caregivers report that they find it difficult to pay attention to their own health while caring for another, according to a report from the National Alliance for Caregiving and the AARP. The percentage goes up for female, LGBTQ+, Latino and lower-income caregivers.\n <\/p>\n We all know caregiving takes time, energy, and emotional bandwidth \u2014 but it may also change us for the better. Sanjay sits down with writer Elissa Strauss, author of\u00a0When You Care: The Unexpected Magic of Caregiving, to explore how caregiving affects the brain,\u00a0why it could be good for your health, and practical ways to care without losing yourself.\u00a0<\/p>\n Our show was produced by Jennifer Lai\u00a0with\u00a0assistance\u00a0from Jesse\u00a0Remedios.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Medical Writer: Andrea Kane\u00a0Showrunner: Amanda Sealy\u00a0Senior Producer: Dan Bloom\u00a0Technical Director: Dan\u00a0Dzula<\/p>\n Mar 06, 2026 \u2022 31 min<\/p>\n …<\/p>\n \n Nancy Slavin, 57, is a \u201c24-hour\u201d caregiver to her mom in their shared home near Portland, Oregon. She deeply values this time they have had together, but the care has come at a cost to her health. Nancy had neglected routine cancer screenings for years until she finally got around to it and had a scare that got her attention. On top of that neglect, it has limited her capacity to socialize and do things like attend literary readings and gatherings she once loved.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cUltimately, I love my mom and will never regret having done this,\u201d she said. \u201cBut at the same time, I don\u2019t want it to kill me because I am a mom, have a spouse, and I want a good life.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Even those who do long-distance caregiving can experience burnout and self-neglect.\n <\/p>\n \n Heidi Lescanec, 54, lives in Vancouver, far from her mom in Ontario, Canada. Still, the demands of caring for her mom physically and emotionally overwhelm her. She\u2019s found it hard to take deep breaths, chew her food, let alone do other types of more meaningful self-care while feeling deeply responsible for another person.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cYou can\u2019t distribute that work. You are the one person they will speak to. Even if you wish to delegate some of the work, there has to be one person at the helm and that\u2019s me,\u201d she said.\n <\/p>\n “She cared about everybody”: Former HLN anchor Robin Meade reflects on her meetings with Dolly Parton\n <\/p>\n “She cared about everybody”: Former HLN anchor Robin Meade reflects on her meetings with Dolly Parton<\/p>\n 4:47<\/p>\n \n The average family caregiver spends 27 hours a week on care, Resendez told me, and many put in 40 hours or more. \u201cThere is an intensity that comes with caring for someone with a serious illness. It is a job that doesn\u2019t leave much room for self-care,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n \n And many caregivers physically and emotionally struggle because they lack financial resources to hire help with care, and therefore receive no assistance with, or break from, the repetitive and demanding work.\n <\/p>\n \n Close to two-thirds of caregivers report emotional stress, and 45% report physical strain. There is the additional burden of loneliness, experienced by nearly a quarter of all caregivers who may be missing opportunities to socialize and connect outside their homes, away from the family members and friends they care for.\n <\/p>\n \n As Parton\u2019s last chapter tells us, even caregivers who can afford hired help, along with easy-to-navigate medical care, risk compromising their own well-being while tending to another.\n <\/p>\n Caregivers just don\u2019t have the bandwidth<\/p>\n \n Caregivers\u2019 self-neglect often comes down to practical matters. \u201cThere is a logistical piece that drives a lot of this,\u201d said Allison Applebaum, professor of geriatrics and palliative medicine and director of the Steven S. Elbaum Family Center for Caregiving at Mount Sinai in New York.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIt is impossible to schedule medical appointments these days, and how can you reliably do that while not being able to plan past tomorrow with the person you are caring for?\u201d said Applebaum, who is also author of \u201cStand By Me: A Guide to Navigating Modern, Meaningful Caregiving.\u201d<\/a>\n <\/p>\n \n Also, when people are spending much of their days dealing with hospitals or at doctor\u2019s offices with those they care for, they just don\u2019t want to spend any precious free time in a medical setting for themselves.\n <\/p>\n \n Neal K. Shah, co-founder and CEO of CareYaya Health Technologies, a health-tech platform that connects families with affordable elder care, said Parton\u2019s story felt very familiar.\n <\/p>\n \n During the several years he was the caregiver for his wife, who had cancer, he didn\u2019t go to a single doctor\u2019s appointment for himself. He said his health needs just didn\u2019t seem as important as hers.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cMany people caring for spouses brush off every symptom. In my experience it felt like: I can\u2019t be sick because I need to do my job here. Also, because this person is majorly sick, and it is growing fast, and chances are that whatever is wrong with me is not, so I will deal with my thing later.\u201d\n <\/p>\n ‘She made everything look so easy’: Margo Price on Dolly Parton\n <\/p>\n ‘She made everything look so easy’: Margo Price on Dolly Parton<\/p>\n 6:26<\/p>\n \n Applebaum said that even those who can overcome the practical obstacles often still struggle to take care of themselves. This is especially the case when the affection and connection between caregiver and care recipient runs deep, as appeared to be the case with Parton.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cCaring for someone we know is going to die inevitably engenders a feeling of powerlessness in us. We can\u2019t save them, but we can put everything under the sun into caring for them,\u201d Applebaum said. \u201cCaregiving can help us feel in control.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Other emotional stumbling blocks include a lack of bandwidth for any more bad news. Better not to peek under one\u2019s hood, lest one discover something wrong there. Caregivers are already dealing with so much uncertainty \u2014 and the attendant anxiety and stress \u2014 when it comes to the well-being of their care partners. Any more might overwhelm them.\n <\/p>\n \n Lastly, they might hesitate to do anything that will increase the pressure on their loved ones and broader circles of support. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to do anything that would create a burden on the person I am caring for or further burden our extended networks,\u201d Shah said.\n <\/p>\n \n Currently, unpaid family caregivers are responsible for an estimated $1 trillion worth of healthcare<\/a> in the United States. Tens of millions of Americans wouldn\u2019t survive without them. And yet, when a caregiver takes their care partner to a doctor\u2019s appointment, hospital or treatment, they are rarely asked how they, the caregiver, are doing, or if they need support.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cOnly 15% have ever been asked by a provider what they need,\u201d Resendez said. \u201cThey are navigating a complex system, doing complex healthcare, and yet very few are getting the kind of social, emotional and practical support they need.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Unsurprisingly, this leads to worse health outcomes for both the caregiver and care recipient. Meanwhile, when caregivers are given support, the vast majority feel more confident in their role and believe they offer better care as a result. Resendez said things like respite care, in-home healthcare, and palliative care can go a long way in relieving caregiver burden.\n <\/p>\n \n Applebaum said it is her \u201cmission to embed support for caregivers into every health system.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n In her vision, the moment someone is registered as a patient, their caregiver or caregivers would also be registered and screened to determine how they are doing. Such screenings would look at their physical and mental health, as well as if they have the social and economic stability necessary to be able to care well without excess burden. Should any concerns arise, they would be offered help.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThis wouldn\u2019t be a pamphlet telling them to call someone else. It would be a routine part of the care overall to identify their needs and meet them,\u201d she said, adding that it is important for all caregivers to be offered mental health support.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cInevitably, over time, this kind of support would give caregivers the capacity to prioritize their own healthcare as well.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n EDITOR\u2019S NOTE:\u00a0 Elissa Strauss writes about the politics and culture of parenting and caregiving. She is the author of \u201cWhen You Care<\/a>: The Unexpected Magic of Caring for Others.\u201d To listen to her interview with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last October, Dolly Parton gave her fans a health update. In a video entitled \u201cI ain\u2019t dead yet!,\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":597676,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[163,521,85,46],"class_list":["post-597675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=597675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/597676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=597675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=597675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=597675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Chasing](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787842450_632_square.jpg\")
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\n Chasing Life with Dr. Sanjay Gupta
\n <\/a>
\n Could Caring for Others Change Your Brain for the Better?<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Dolly](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/dolly-parton-robin-meade.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Dolly](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/dolly-parton-robin-meade.jpg&q=w_860,c_fill\")
<\/p>\n![\"Dolly](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/dolly-and-carl-dean.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Amanpour](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/amanpour-price-26august2026.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Amanpour](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/amanpour-price-26august2026.jpg&q=w_860,c_fill\")
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