In 2004, Mr Hogan left his accounting job in Sydney to move back to Wagga after his mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's.

He would be Margaret Hogan's primary carer until her death at the age of 96 in October last year and both their lives were radically changed by the incurable neurological disease that slowly destroyed her memories and thoughts and pulled her into dementia.

Margaret wanted to stay at home, so her son made it happen, even though it was a long and at times difficult path to have chosen.

"Because she was a fantastic mother. That's why ... because she loved us. She loved me," Mr Hogan said.

"I wasn't sure that I could keep her at home. I wasn't going to keep her at home if I couldn't adequately care for her."

Almost half a million Australians have dementia and 60 to 70 per cent of all cases can be attributed to Alzheimer's disease.

In the early stages of her battle, Margaret lost her grip on her social world and activities she had once loved and would come home in a state of confusion.

"She wanted to resign from Probus. But they want you to write a letter," Mr Hogan said.

"So she's sitting down trying to write. She had a beautiful hand and used to write a diary, but then she's trying to pencil in this resignation from Probus and she found it very difficult."

It was then their roles were reversed and Mr Hogan started looking after the woman who had always cared so deeply for him and his siblings.

Mr Hogan faced considerable challenges as his mother's condition deteriorated, including one night when she fell and broke her shoulder, which led to her being hospitalised.

Still, he never for a moment considered putting her into an aged care facility.

"I would have put her into a nursing home if I couldn't cope and that was the biggest worry," he said.

Mr Hogan began to look for additional support in 2015 but struggled to find a suitable carer until a chance recommendation from "a young guy at the gym" led him to Leanne Harmer.

With the help of a government home care package he was able to employ the "instrumental" Mrs Harmer in the last three years of his mother's life.

Together, Mr Hogan and Mrs Harmer looked after Margaret during her final chilling decline which saw the once strong and capable woman lose the ability to communicate.

"What you tend to realise is that there are needs every moment of the day, when [someone has] dementia," Mr Hogan said.

Mrs Harmer, who has been an in-home carer for more than two decades, has in the last eight years helped five people to die at home.

"All peacefully and all happily with the love of their family around. It is a long road, but I find that actually I've accomplished something," she said.

"You can have care at home regardless of what people tell you. If you get the right team together: a doctor and a good carer and the family."

Mrs Harmer said there was a need for proper care in the community.

"It's not like you're trying to be a martyr or anything, you're just trying to give them the end of life care that they deserve at home."

Dementia Australia chief executive Kaele Stokes said about 1.6 million people in the country were involved in some way in caring for someone with the condition.

Dementia, she said, affected people's brains "in lots of different ways".

"Something like cooking a meal or making a cup of tea, the steps required to undertake that activity might get scrambled in someone's mind," she said.

"They might forget ... how to make that cake they've been making for years because they've forgotten the purpose of the oven."

Dr Stokes said the prevalence of dementia was increasing, with 1.1 million Australians expected to have some form of the condition by 2058.

"Most people would generally choose to stay in their own homes where they could possibly do so," she said.

"It can be difficult, and particularly higher level home care packages are difficult to access ... and the responsibility of looking after someone with dementia still largely falls on the family carers."

Mrs Harmer said for her, in-home care was about giving clients "the care and compassion they deserve".

"People often face a lot of opposition in regards to people thinking 'You can't do it, it's too hard, why would you bother?'," she said.

"But at the end of the day it's not what other people want, it's what the client wanted for themselves ... to die at home."

Mr Hogan told The Daily Advertiser he wanted people to know it was possible to care for an ageing parent at home with the right support.

He said he never doubted his decision and found the process profoundly satisfying. "When your mum is sitting there and she says, 'Thank you, Jim'. You can't explain it," he said.

Mr Hogan and Mrs Harmer were thanked in a prayer read at Margaret's funeral.

"We pray for those who have cared for Margaret, especially Jim and Leanne, whose care was second-to-none," it said. "Their gentleness and support even to each other meant the world to Margaret's family."