The company I work for has booked a charity sky dive for September 2020 and has asked each member of the team to choose a local charity to Support. I have chosen to raise funds for Defying Dementia. This charity is very close to my heart as they do a lot of research into Alzheimer’s and Dementia and they run a lovely monthly meeting for people living with Dementia and their families for somewhere to go, have a cup of tea, talk to new people and be provided with any information they need from professional bodies relating to the cause, which, for my family has been a breath of fresh air over the last couple of years.


My Nana was first diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's in 2006. For years we watched her slowly deteriorate and helped her the best we could through her hallucinations and sleepless nights. Eventually, in April 2016 we made the difficult decision to move her into a care home where she would be safe and cared for better than we could now care for her at home.
During this transition from my Nana living at home to her moving into the care home, my youngest Auntie, Wendy - who was 41 at the time- was diagnosed with depression at the end of 2015 due to these circumstances and was signed off work. However, in February 2016 and we knew there was something else at play. She was sent for brain scans and tests and in November 2016 she was diagnosed with Early onset Alzheimer's disease. In September 2017 her dementia caused a huge seizure, she was in intensive care for over a week and the doctors didn't think she was going to survive. When she eventually came round, she had lost the ability to verbally communicate and care for herself, her husband then spent the next year and a half caring for her at home. At the end of February 2019 Wendy was rushed to hospital with her second major seizure and from that point we could no longer bring her home. On the 1st March 2019 she was moved to a nursing home where they had the facilities to give her around the clock care.
on the 15th June of the same year my Nana’s sister died of Dementia. Just 4 months later on the 15th October my Nana died in the care home that had given her the best care for the last three years of her life, Wendy then took a turn for the worst and on the 22nd March 2020 she passed away at the age of 47.

My Nanny was also diagnosed with Alzheimer's in December 2017 and is so far still able to live comfortably at home. She enjoys going to the Dementia Hub meetings run by Defying Dementia every first Friday of the month.

If Defying Dementia’s research can eventually stop families going through what we, and many other families have been through and are going through then it will make my skydive worth it. It is never too late to find a cure.



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