This is my mum Joan, she was first diagnosed with dementia
in 2014 and we were told she was already at the half way stage. 

Until you have been involved with someone with this kind of
illness it’s very difficult to try to explain and to understand the day to day challenges that it brings. Simple things such as taking regular medication becomes a struggle.  They don’t want to take tablets as they think they’ve already had them and they lose all sense of reasoning.  In the past I’ve been so frustrated with mum because she wouldn’t do the things I was asking of her but it wasn’t because she didn’t want to do them it’s because she didn’t understand. They also lose their sense of connection, I’ve found mum rubbing toothpaste into her neck because she thought it was deep heat.

There was an occasion where mum had an appointment at the
memory clinic and she wanted to make her own way there as she was, and still is very independent and she didn’t like me taking time off work to go to appointments with her.  I checked that she knew where she was going and she reassured me she did, so I went to meet her but she wasn’t there.  I frantically searched for her, asking random passers by if they’d seen her, and letting the clinic know that I couldn’t find her, I even stopped a police man to ask if he’d seen mum. I kept ringing her at home in the hope she’d answer and eventually she did to tell me she had no recollection of her appointment.  Looking back at this now I can see the funny side of it, but at the time I was so upset and worried that something had happened her. 

One of the things I’ve learned about people with dementia is
that it’s important to try and keep them happy, tell them nice things, such as ‘you look lovely in that’, ‘you’re the best mum in the world’, things like that mean so much to them and keeps them in a happy mental state.  Also try not to get frustrated when they are constantly repeating  themselves, does it matter?

I’m not sure what antics mum will get up to in the future,
but she’s our mum and we love her, so we’ll always be there for her, to look after her as she looked after us when we were growing up.

This is the reason I’ve decided to do the Trekfest, to raise
money for a charity that helps people with dementia and also their families and carers as they need support too!

On a lighter note Mum said she’d sponsor me £5 to do the walk,
so far she’s given me £20 !