This is the heartwarming moment a pensioner with dementia stunned care home residents with her rendition – of Frank Sinatra’s My Way.
Margaret Mackie, 83, suffers from dementia and has been a resident at Northcare Suites Care Home in Edinburgh since last year.
She struggles to remember the staff at the home but stunned residents and her family when she remembered all the words as she sang along at the Christmas Party.
Jamie Lee Morely, 31, who works at the home, organised the party for residents and said it didn’t take much to persuade Margaret to join him on stage for the singalong.
Jamie, a singer, said he was amazed the first time he heard Margaret’s voice, and the pair regularly sing along to Elvis Presley or Frank Sinatra when Jamie is working.
Margaret wowed the party with her ‘angelic’ voice and a clip of the pair singing has been seen thousands of times after being posted on Facebook.
Jame said: “Music is a massive therapy for people with dementia.
“From the minute Margaret moved in here she was always singing and dancing.
“Everyday we sing together and it makes her feel relaxed and less distressed because dementia can cause confusion.
“I am a bit like the class clown of the home, but as long as I see them smile it makes it all worthwhile.
“Last week we had a Christmas party for the residents and their families and the care home asked if I would do the singing as they know I am into that.
“I called Margaret up on stage and she was right up there with me, I didn’t have to ask her twice.
“Her daughter was filming it and it’s such an amazing memory for her to have of her mum.
“The staff have been saying to her, ‘we saw that video of you and Jamie singing’ and she just says ‘who’s Jamie’, she can’t remember.
“But I just keep showing her the video.”
Jamie said Margaret, who moved into the care home just weeks after it opened last September, is always singing and dancing.
Jamie, who works as a hospitality member said: “The first time I heard her sing I couldn’t believe it.
“I was at work, and I just heard this amazing voice, it was angelic, and I thought it must have been coming from a record but it was Margaret.
“She was just sitting on her own and her pitch was perfect and she knew all of the words.
“I just started crying when I saw it.
“The power of music is amazing, seeing her come to life when she sings Elvis or Frank Sinatra, it makes my day.
“She’s got so much go about her, she always has her lipstick on and her rollers in her hair.”