Yours Truly Stitch Co. was born from my mother.

My sweet mama was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s at 72 years old. For the last five years, my sister and I cared for her ourselves, surrounding her with love, dignity, and familiarity. Only in her final months,  after she was a passenger in a horrific car accident, did we move her into memory care because her needs had grown beyond what we could safely provide at home.

Even then, she was never alone.

One of us visited her every single day.

Because we were there daily, we saw everything.

When we moved her in, we were told to label her belongings. Our choices were a black Sharpie or iron-on labels. The Sharpie faded. The iron-on labels peeled off in the commercial laundry. Nothing lasted.

Her beloved cat of sixteen years, Catman, couldn’t come with her. So we made her a sweatshirt with his name and image and firmly ironed her name across it:

Karen Cochran.

One day, I walked down the hallway and saw another resident wearing that sweatshirt.

The label had fallen off in the wash. And with it, her name.

Piece by piece, her belongings wandered. Clothing became communal. Identity became fragile.

Then one night, after something traumatic happened to her in the facility, I rushed to sit beside her. As I held her hand, I heard a staff member call her by the wrong name.

The wrong name.

In that moment, something in me became unshakable.

People in memory care are not patients in room numbers.

They are mothers. Fathers. Teachers. Veterans. Entire lifetimes.

Their names matter.

Everything I wanted for my mom came down to four things:

Belonging.

Recognition.

Identity.

Dignity.

BRID.

Yours Truly Stitch Co. was created to protect those four things in a simple, visible, lasting way.

We permanently embroider names over the left chest, over the heart, so they remain through laundering, transitions, and time. We stitch in images that spark recognition and conversation. We design every piece so a caregiver, visitor, or passing resident sees a name and says it out loud.

Because when a name is spoken, something powerful happens.

A person returns.

A story remains.

Dignity stands.

Today, my mom is dancing with the angels.

Her story now carries wings.

And this company is her legacy.

With all my heart,

Marcina

Founder, Yours Truly Stitch Co.™

Because every name holds a story, and we stitch it in.