PLEASE SUPPORT THE ALZHEIMER'S SOCIETY AND MAKE ME RUN 13.1 MILES (OUCH)!

Aimee's Story

My lovely mum “Dot”…
My mum Dorothy, was a wonderful, caring lady who led an eventful life; surviving World War 2, serving in the Royal Navy (Wrens) and bearing six children.

Despite the fact that she worked full-time as a nurse in Ripon maternity ward, and had me at home to contend with (she had me when she was 43 years young!) she also managed to be a fantastic Grandma to my nephews and nieces, do a lot of voluntary work for the community (Ripon) and charities, such as, the Women’s Institute and St John’s Ambulance (receiving Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem and Serving Sister medals for her service).

My mum was very intelligent, the only TV programmes I can actually remember her sitting down and watching were Mastermind and University Challenge and my dad and I were always astounded at the amount of random (and very hard) questions she got right. Go mum! However it was her personality that struck you, she was cheerful, friendly, caring, comforting, reliable and very warm ... but you were very honoured if she got your name right in her first three attempts as she was rather scatty.

The disease…
Unfortunately, this scattiness meant that it was a very long time before we realised there was something medically wrong with her, she had been calling people the wrong name, asking if you wanted a cup of coffee 5 times before making it, and generally being forgetful for many years. It was only when she was admitted to hospital in 2004, having had a nasty fall in her flat that we found out that her gentleman friend had been locking her in the house and covering up her illness. Thankfully, she went straight from hospital to a fantastic care home in Harrogate that specifically caters for the elderly mentally ill. By this time she was in the full throes of Alzheimer’s and did not recognise me.

I literally cannot put into words how heartbreaking it is to sit in front of your mother and not even see the slightest flicker of recognition in her eyes. I just wanted her to know I was there with her, but I was a stranger to her, as far as I could tell. My son Dan (now 17) only vaguely remembers her as “Little Piggy Grandma” because she had given him a small red cuddly toy pig when he was tiny; that is also heartbreaking because he spent a lot of time with her when he was young but he does not remember.

We got a call from the home on the 21st December 2008 to say that she was deteriorating and it would be wise to visit very soon. I visited every day from then until she passed away on the 31st December; those days are so very precious to me and I feel truly blessed to have had the opportunity to spend time with her in her final days, as she had a few very short periods of lucidity, where I like to think that she recognised me and knew I was with her.

Whilst it was obviously deeply upsetting that she had died there was an element of relief as I was finally able to mourn the mum that I had lost many years before to this cruel disease. Her GP advised that mum will have had the disease for the previous 10 years.

Inspirational…
At her funeral, I was inspired by her accomplishments and decided to take a (very small) leaf out of her book and start giving something back in her honour so I started running with the aim of participating in the London marathon (didn't get a place) to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Society and I am now a volunteer for the charity she loved so much, the St John’s .  Ambulance (looking after the young “Badger” members aged 5-10 years old). 

I ran 5km for the Cancer Research charity last month in memory of my dad who worked for this charity for some time before he retired (he passed away in 2006).

The charity...

1 in 3 older people will end their life with dementia.

Dementia affects younger people too. There are 700,000 people with dementia in the UK today.

The Alzheimer's Society fights all diseases that may cause dementia not just Alzheimer's. 

The Alzheimer's Society has 240 branches in the UK and provides day care and home care for people with dementia, carers support, befriending, training for health and social care professionals, helpline, online forum, and a quality research programme which aims to improve the quality of life for people with dementia with the ultimate goal of finding a cure.

Alzheimer's is not thought to be genetic.

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