John Bayley - Irish Murdoch - Maria Shriver - Terry Pratchett - Patti Davis - BBC Horizon TV - Dementia & Us TV - Panorama TV -
Laura Bush went on national television during the week of my father’s funeral and spoke out against embryonic stem-cell research, pointing out that where Alzheimer’s is concerned, we don’t have proof that stem-cell treatment would be effective. Patti Davis
It is rather like falling from stair to stair in a series of bumps. John Bayley, re wife Iris Murdoch’s progressive loss of memory
I’m just wandering, I think of things and then they go away for ever. Iris Murdoch, cited Times 5th February 1997
When you’re dealing with a parent with Alzheimer’s, you yourself feel helpless. The parent can’t work, can’t live alone, and is totally dependent, like a toddler. As the disease unfolds, you don’t know what to expect. Maria Shriver
When you have Alzheimer’s you are an old fart. That’s how people see you. It makes you feel quite alone. Terry Pratchett
Laura Bush went on national television during the week of my father’s funeral and spoke out against embryonic stem-cell research, pointing out that where Alzheimer’s is concerned, we don't have proof that stem-cell treatment would be effective. Patti Davis
Our memories make us who we are. But it’s thought thirty million people today are losing them due to the curse of our time – Alzheimer’s. Horizon: Curing Alzheimer’s, BBC 2016
The latest generation of research has unleashed a new front in the war on this devastating disease. ibid.
Regular sleep throughout our lifetime could lower our risk of developing the disease. ibid.
What we eat plays a part as well. ibid.
She walked away from the house one day and she didn’t know where she was and nobody knew where she was, so that was the end of my being able to take care of her because I couldn’t keep her safe any more. Louis Theroux: Extreme Love II – Dementia, Janet, BBC 2012
We tell white lies all day long here. ibid. supervisor
The residents of the memory support unit exist in a twilight of half-remembered reality. Staff have a philosophy of going along with the delusions of the residents. ibid. Louis
It’s reckoned that one in eight Americans aged sixty-five and over has Alzheimer’s, the most common cause of dementia. The rates climb alarmingly with age ... Many sufferers are cared for at home by their loved ones. ibid.
Nancy, what’s your name? ibid. Nancy’s husband
It can strike people in their forties or in rare cases even younger. ibid. Louis
The ones they love face a different kind of struggle. ibid.
An ever shrinking circle of forgetfulness. ibid.
‘No-one can give you a time-frame for how long you’ve got.’ Dementia & Us I, sufferer, BBC 2021
They are all dealing with different types of dementia: a set of diseases that will attack their brain-cells and get worse over time. ibid.
Dementia is an umbrella term for many different conditions with no cure. Alzheimer’s is the most common and typically starts by damaging the parts of the brain that processes recent memories. ibid.
What am I supposed to do? I live on my own and I don’t understand it all. All I know is that I can’t see my grandchildren, I can’t see my daughter and son in law, I can’t see my friends. Dementia & Us II
Marion’s dementia is called … PCA: it started at the back of her brain affecting her vision, but as it spreads it’s impacting other areas too. ibid.
Alzheimer’s affects around 600,000 people in the UK. No drug has been shown to slow the disease until now. For more than a year we have had exclusive access to the trials of two drugs now on the verge of being licensed in the UK. Many scientists believe this could be a turning point. Alzheimer’s: A Turning Point? BBC 2024