My Story: Life with Dementia
There are almost one million people living with dementia in the UK. Every single person affected by dementia, past and present, is one in a million to their loved ones.
Please know if your family is affected by dementia, you are not alone. Below you will find moving and touching stories about loved ones affected by dementia.
"Mum was a laugh, she was really fiery and passionate about lots of things, which makes the fact she got diagnosed with dementia at 70 really hard... It’s cruel and horrible to see the decline that she’s been in..."
"We talked about her illness over the six years, changing the emphasis as time progressed and the worse she got, and discussed what it all meant."
"Our story is not unusual. Grandma Anne is currently living with Alzheimer’s. Sadly, ‘living’ is putting it nicely. The harsh reality of this disease means that grandma is currently bed bound..."
"I remember my grandma, Jean, in her younger days as beautiful, kind, and sometimes a little strict! As a young woman she worked in Merthyr Tydfil Town Hall and was a keen amateur seamstress..."
"Ann was sadly diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2017. She settled in well to the home and was often seen on the dance floor showing off her moves to her fellow residents..."
"My mum was a true lifelong learner. To her, reading novels was a waste of time when there was so much to read and learn about in the real world. From her university studies in Archaeology, Spanish and French..."
"It was a battle to get my mum diagnosed with dementia nearly fourteen years ago now. If the Fastball test had been around then it could have changed everything for our family..."
"Her name was Elizabeth or "Libby" to most people. She was the most remarkable woman and a real character who I still miss terribly, despite her having sadly died with dementia in 2008..."
"Paul was the life and soul of any party, the first to get up to dance and the last to leave, with Maggie, his wife of 14 years, by his side. They were the best of friends throughout their 29-year relationship..."
"Jack’s battle with dementia started quite abruptly. The directors of the company he worked for sold up, so he made the decision to leave. It was during this time things started to get quite difficult, so we went to the GP."
"My grandfather was a uniquely intelligent and active man. He was a successful engineer and businessman. But also with such a love of literature he went back to university as a mature student to study it."
"Alzheimer’s and dementia sit closely within my heart - in 2010 my world changed forever when my grandma, my best friend, my confidant, my counsellor, my life coach, sadly got diagnosed with a strand of dementia."
"If you can picture all of your memories as writings in sand, dementia is the coming in to erase then piece by piece..."
"He insisted that he had to put his jacket and shoes on to go to the airport. Someone was picking him up. He had to go to Burma..."
"My life before dementia. I can picture it, I can recall it 100% almost, but you ask me what I had for breakfast today and I haven’t a clue."
“My father often said when I was a child that if he was ever ill he would much rather be treated by a vet than a doctor..."
“My Mum had been reported by a building society as being in a state of confusion and wandering around the streets of Perth at risk."
Retired journalist and practising artist, Willy Gilder, shares his unconventional story of being diagnosed with Alzheimer's at age 67.
If you have been moved by these personal stories and would like to join others and share your personal experience with dementia, please click the button below.
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