by FilmInk Staff
Adelaide and Lucinda Miller join CHeBA’s Dollar for Dementia campaign ahead of SBS premiere during World Alzheimer’s Month
Sisters and documentary creators Adelaide and Lucinda Miller are turning their family’s experience with dementia into a national call for action, joining the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA) at UNSW Sydney as Ambassadors for Dollar for Dementia.
The announcement marks the beginning of World Alzheimer’s Month and comes ahead of the SBS On Demand premiere of their feature-length documentary Nansie, which chronicles five years of their beloved grandmother’s life with dementia.
More than a story of loss, Nansie is an intimate and at times confronting portrait of family, connection and resilience, challenging misconceptions about dementia and showing what it means to continue loving and caring for someone as the disease changes them.
“It was always easier to be with Nan in the difficult moments because of how close we were,” the sisters said. “But that closeness also means we feel every change, every loss, so significantly.”
The film does not shy away from the realities of dementia. In one of its most powerful moments, Nansie describes losing her sense of self.
“I don’t know what’s happened to me. It’s as if I’m not a person anymore. I’m just a thing. It’s like being in a silent prison.”
Adelaide and Lucinda also speak candidly about the emotions families can find difficult to admit.
“There are moments where it’s confronting, even uncomfortable,” Adelaide said. “I remember feeling annoyed when Nan would repeat herself and then feeling guilty for that. Dementia forces you to confront parts of yourself you didn’t know were there.”
“There are times we didn’t like her,” Lucinda said. “And that’s hard to say. But it’s real. Dementia changes relationships in ways you’re not prepared for.”
Yet Nansie is equally a story about what remains.
“She’s teaching us to slow down,” the sisters said. “In a world that values productivity, Nan’s dementia forces presence.”
It is this experience that Adelaide and Lucinda are now bringing to Dollar for Dementia, CHeBA’s national September fundraising campaign supporting research into dementia prevention, earlier detection and healthier brain ageing.
Adelaide said the simplicity of the campaign was central to its message.
“Dollar for Dementia sends a powerful message that everyone can be part of the solution. Even one dollar can help drive research, build awareness and create hope for families affected by dementia.”
For Lucinda, each dollar represents something bigger.
“It might sound simple, but every dollar is a dollar invested in hope. Dementia can feel like such a devastating disease, but research gives us hope for a different future.
“Donate for yourself, for your grandparents, for your parents, for your neighbours – because dementia touches all of us.”
CHeBA Co-Director and 2026 Senior Australian of the Year Professor Henry Brodaty AO said Adelaide and Lucinda’s willingness to share the realities of dementia would help challenge misconceptions while bringing greater attention to the urgent need for research.
“Nansie captures something statistics never can – the lived experience of dementia, the relationships at its heart and the importance of maintaining connection, dignity and hope,” Professor Brodaty said.
“By sharing their story so openly, Adelaide and Lucinda are helping Australians better understand dementia while encouraging greater investment in the research that can change its future.”
Nearly half a million Australians are currently living with dementia, which is now Australia’s leading cause of death. Without significant advances in prevention and treatment, the number of Australians living with dementia is projected to more than double in the coming decades.
Throughout September, CHeBA is calling on Australians to get behind Dollar for Dementia and demonstrate how small contributions, multiplied across the community, can help accelerate life-changing research.
Small change. Big breakthroughs.
Because behind every dementia statistic is a person, a family and a story like Nansie’s.
Support Dollar for Dementia
Donate to CHeBA’s Dollar for Dementia campaign this September and help accelerate world-leading dementia research.
Donate to Dollar for Dementia: www.dollarfordementia.org
Nansie has been acquired by SBS and will be available to view on SBS On Demand from 1st September 2026 during World Alzheimer’s Month, and then will air on SBS at a later date.
About CHeBA
The Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA) at UNSW Sydney is an international leader in research focused on preventing dementia, promoting healthy brain ageing and improving the lives of people living with dementia through research, innovation and collaboration.
