Five years ago, Comer’s mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Now she lives in her daughter’s dining room turned bedroom, cared for by Comer and the three rotating aides who also look after Gralnick. Struggling with this double difficulty, Comer finds support in a network of good friends. “ ‘Let’s go out and breathe,’ they tell me, so we go hiking,” she says. “But really, Geoffrey Beene saved my life. The foundation gave me a way to flip the heartache and make something positive.”

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