I like to see myself as a Dementia survivor. I’m not after sympathy, I don’t want (or need!) criticism, I just felt I wanted to start documenting what it’s like for a family member to see their loved one live with Dementia. That right, LIVE, just like you live with any other disability, illness or health conditions. That family member is me, the loved one, is my dad, my hero.
My dad was diagnosed with Vascular Dementia and Alzheimers Disease around 2013. I remember begging him to see a doctor after he left the front door to my flat unlocked when I asked him to wait for a furniture delivery whilst I was at work. In the same month, he unfortunately lost his job because the firm realised something was not right. They were so understanding and offered him all sorts of private medical support but he declined as he didn’t want to tell the family what was going on and unfortunately the company felt it was no longer safe for him to work and had to let him go. However they let him go with 3 months pay and we’re genuinely upset to let see him go.
The diagnosis has completely turned our lives upside down. My dad was fit and healthy in his later years, took up running, cycling and triathlons, became a vegetarian and hadn’t smoked for over 30 years. Yet at the age of 63, it wasn’t his body that was deteriating but his mind.
I was told in the beginning that this was not inheritory however whilst my dad’s mom was not diagnosed, she was obviously showing the same symptoms and signs before she departed this world and my dad’s sister is also in the later stages of dementia and Alzheimers. Dementia and Alzheimers is the biggest killer in the UK yet we know so little about it and how to treat it and years off any successful treatments. Whilst my dad was prescribed drugs to help slow down the progression, it will not cure anything and I do wonder if it is too late to take these drugs as it often takes years to get a diagnosis in the first place. We had to beg the hospital to carry out MRI scans on my dad’s brain just to confirm what we all suspected, but without conformation, nothing can be done.
I want this blog to at least help me through my own struggles but at the most, to help others who are in similar situations. Help them realise they are not alone in this battle and their thoughts are probably my thoughts. Its what we are all thinking and feeling and find some comfort in that.
What People Say
We remember their love when they can no longer remember.
You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face
Eleanor Roosevelt
Daddy Dementia 