05/07/2024
Dementia can be cured：“My grandpa, Ralph, has always been a very gentle man. Infinitely patient, quick to smile but never jokey, interested in my life but not deeply involved. Never judgmental. I’d say we have always been very close. 💜 Every Christmas, Easter, birthday or half-term, my siblings and I would spend a couple of days at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. Grandpa would teach us Sudoku. He liked to talk about history and classical music. When I started playing the piano and guitar at age seven, he loved to listen to me – although I think he could tell I wasn’t going to go down the classical path! Grandpa’s dementia started gradually with him forgetting things. For a long time that was the only sign, but then, coming up to his 90th birthday, his physical strength suddenly started to deteriorate. Every so often we would hear from Grandma that he’d fallen over and not been able to get up, or had wandered off down the road. Then he began thinking he was in someone else’s house. And then, the worst part: he started to have periods where he thought Grandma was a stranger. Grandpa is the first person I’ve ever met with dementia, so it is quite difficult for me to get my head around the changes I see. I want younger people like me to understand dementia, even if it doesn’t personally affect them. I think the common perception is of older people forgetting things – something to roll your eyes and giggle at. I can tell you that the reality of dementia affecting someone you💜
