Man takes his 87-year-old mom with dementia on a 'hot date'

A man has gone viral on social media this week after taking his elderly mother - who suffers with dementia - out on a "hot date".

Filmmaker Jason van Genderen, who hails from Forresters Beach in Australia, decided to take his 87-year-old mom Hendrika - who has vascular dementia and Alzheimer's disease - out on a night on the town and documented the experience in a touching video.

Take a look at the video of the date below: 

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The date in question took place back in October 2019, but now the heartwarming footage of Jason and Hendrika's dinner together has been doing the rounds on social media again.

The video shows Jason picking out clothes for Hendrika (who also goes by the name of "Oma" - a European term for "granny"), posing for pictures, and then enjoying a delicious pasta dinner together at a restaurant, before returning home together to rest.

At the end of the video, Jason writes: "bless your family and all [its] beautiful imperfections. #createkindness."

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According to a report by the Daily Mail, Hendrika was born in the Netherlands and raised two children.

In her youth, she was a stay-at-home mom who enjoyed crocheting, but her dementia has taken its toll on her.

Jason has been recording a number of videos of Hendrika since she received her dementia diagnosis, showing how he copes with caring for her.  The videos have since been shared on the Facebook page Oma's Applesauce, which currently boasts more than 53,000 followers.

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In a recent interview with the Daily Mail Australia, Jason spoke about his experiences caring for his beloved mother.

Jason stated:

"'I wanted to show what it's like when you're living with someone, with both Alzheimer's and vascular dementia… It takes a lot of love and patience

"For us, it was initially just to share with friends and family, what we were doing at home to help us cope.

"It's a bit of therapy for all of us. A bit of comic relief and a bit of humor therapy to get through these tough times."

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He added:

"We wanted to protect her as much as possible from contracting coronavirus, so we decided early to self isolate. But that also meant leaving mum at home and that whole break in routine manifests itself in all different kinds of behavior changes.

"Those little behavioral changes happen when you take out parts of her routine and we've noticed those things happening more and more."

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According to a recent report by the World Health Organization, approximately 50 million people are currently living with dementia globally, with nearly 10 million new cases diagnosed each year.

But new innovations are arriving all the time for people affected by dementia. For instance, a company has created these incredible "Retro Pods", to therapeutically transport people with dementia back in time to settings where they feel more comfortable.