I wanted to get involved with Alzheimer's Society because they helped myself and my
family when my mother-in-law was first diagnosed with dementia
my mother-in-law was called Margaret
she was
quite a character
and er
she was a great friend of mine you know we really were good, good friends
she'd always been a very active person she'd always done sport
she was a really good golfer she used to play tennis when she was younger
she used to walk her dog everyday
uh... she about 2009 she had a um a mini stroke
and although a couple of things had happened before that for example she'd
got a little bit anxious where she had been out driving her car and she had come home
because really sort of
worried because she
had gone at that lost and confused and this is in a town that she'd lived in all her life
and little insidents like that would happen but when she had a mini stroke
there was a very marked difference
we realised that
Margarets memory was going I mean obviously
I think sometimes with mini strokes
that's something that people
you know the medical professionals keep an eye out for
so she did go to a memory clinic and have a memory uh... test
and she was diagnosed then with alzheimer's and mixed dementia
erm
and
you know sometimes when you when you know that you're able to sort of
it's not
the news you maybe want to hear the on the other hand you're able to
except it and deal with it and think right how are we going to handle this
so erm she did, she would go regularly for these memory tests and and you know the fact is
that her
memory did decline
each time that she did the test, she was very funny doing the test, she used to erm
she be given a list of
objects to remember, a list of words to remember
and the lady doing the test
looked down and said, right can you tell me what some of those word on there
and she'd be looking down at her own sheet of paper to see what Margaret could remember
and Margaret would be looking over at us going what's the answer, what's the answer
and we're going, we can't tell you
she would have quite liked to have cheated
telling her jokes and singing with the things that really kept her going, right, right up until
the last time i saw her, before she died
she was singing
and that it was yeah, it was great you could always get her to sing
you could you could start a song off
and uh... she would always join in
she, she loved singing
and she loved laughing
my stepdaughter Fiona
ran the Cardiff half marathon las year in aid of Alzheimer's Society because she wanted to do
something for her grandma
and er
we were really proud of her for doing it and I know Margaret would have been very very proud
because
she would have just said
oh Fiona running all that way, weren't you tired
so yeah it was a really really proud moment for the whole family and uh...
it was quite something to see
her running with erm
erm Margaret name on the back of her vest you know, she was a really lovey
a really lovely woman
and uh..
and a great honour and a privilege to know her actually
so this year Dementia Awareness Week
is all about getting people to talk about dementia
it's just really important we talk to friends to
our GP's
and talk to Alzheimer's Society because
they really can help they helped me and my family
and erm
they really are there to support, they are a very practical charity
they know how to give practical help and advice and you know
being aware of an issue and a problem
it, it get's us
towards
solving it and to certainly taking the fear out of the whole situation, so
it's really important that this Dementia Awareness Week we all get talking
about dementia