Thank you very much for taking the time to visit our page and make a donation to the Alzheimer's Society, whose goal right now is to help people who are living with dementia through care, support and ground breaking research.

My partner, Matt and I are trekking the Yorkshire 3 Peaks: 26 miles over Pen-y-ghent, Ingleborough and Whernside, to raise vital money towards the fight for a world free of dementia

My lovely Mum was diagnosed with mixed Alzheimers and Vascular Dementia, in 2014 and has been in a Dementia Care Home since March 2019.

It is utterly heartbreaking to witness this cruel disease slowly take our kind and gentle Mum into the abyss of confusion and loss, but through all the darkness we must find the light and cherish the special moments we still share with Mum. We are lucky as she is, for the most part, quite relaxed and content when we visit. Even if she doesn't know our names now and rarely recognises anyone but her own Dad in photographs, Mum recognises us more with a feeling of love. We still laugh together and she loves a gentle massage or just to hold my hand and I did just that recently after over a year of Covid enforced window visits - it was wonderful!

Our Dad passed away in January 2021. Amazingly spritely at 96 years old, he had insisted on visiting Mum nearly every day, even through the lonely, difficult lockdown. He would stand outside in the cold winter, just to see mum through the window, their hearing loss and mum's confusion making it all so difficult. I’m now so glad that he did persevere though, as without his daily presence Dad has now all but gone from Mum's memory, despite me talking about him and showing mum photographs from their 66 years together.

We are very lucky to have found Mum a lovely care home with kind, friendly staff who calmly face the more unpleasant side of these diseases, while keeping the residents’ dignity and bringing light into their days, with music and warm hearts, for which we are so thankful.

Some facts about mixed Alzheimers and vascular dementia:

The two diseases affect the brain differently

Alzheimer's disease is caused by a build-up of faulty proteins in and around brain cells, especially those that help form memories. Early stages are associated with memory problems, language difficulties and becoming confused more easily

The Vascular part is caused by problems with the supply of blood throughout the brain and prevents brain cells from getting enough oxygen and nutrients. This results in slower processing of thoughts and information, difficulty with planning or problem solving and trouble concentrating

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