I’d give anything to have my sister back
When Becky Barletta was diagnosed with dementia two years ago aged 31 she became one of the UK’s youngest sufferers. Here, her younger sibling Sophie reveals the heartbreak of ‘losing’ Becks to the cruel disease
would say, ‘I had to drink lots and do the limbo and my dress came down and showed my boobies.’ It was true but it was always the same story repeated word for word.
“At the time it was driving us crazy but now she has stopped speaking I would love her to tell her little stories again. You want to hold on to every moment you have of her.”
TODAY the family, whose bakery business Dorringtons will celebrate its centenary next year, remain committed to caring for Becky. She lives with her parents in the farmhouse next door to Sophie’s converted barn near Bury St Edmunds.
Becky’s husband Luca visits often from Europe – where in winter he works as a ski instructor and in summer runs a hostel. “He is here as much as he can to see Becks. It is not a conventional marriage but he loves her and in that respect it’s ‘in sickness and in health’,” says Sophie. “I’ve lost a sister but they were supposed to begin their life together. It’s horrible that all that has been taken away from them.”
The gene carried by the family has not been identified and Sophie knows that she, Alfie, or his one-year-old sister Millie are at risk. Typically each of the children or siblings of someone with a genetic mutation that can cause the disease has a 50 per cent chance of carrying it themselves although that does not mean they will develop symptoms.
“My goal in speaking out to raise money is that my children don’t have to worry about a hereditary disease that ends lives without dignity.
“What also really upsets me is that they won’t remember their Aunty Becky when she was well. I had always imagined them growing up with their cousins and having holidays together on the Suffolk coast but it’s awful that it’s never going to happen.”
To help them understand who their aunt really was Sophie has filled her house with framed photographs of Becky. And she tells the children stories about her.
“At night, after I have read to Alfie, he asks me to make a story up. So I will tell him how I want it to be with him and us and Aunty Becky and Uncle Luca all going on holiday together. Or I will tell him the story of Aunty Becky and the Magic Skis.
“Later, lying in bed, I try my best to remain happy about all that we have. And I take comfort from Luca’s words. He always says that it is better to live 30 years as a lion than 60 years as a mouse.”
Alzheimer’s Society is calling on Daily Express readers to unite against dementia and help fund vital research for a cure by signing up for a local Memory Walk at memorywalk.org.uk. Forty flagship walks are taking place in September and October.
“Dementia is now the UK’s biggest killer with someone developing it every three minutes,” says Alzheimer’s Society chief Jeremy Hughes.
“Every pound raised through Memory Walk will help provide vital information and support, improve care, fund research and create lasting change for people affected by the disease.” THREE’S COMPANY: Becky and Sophie as children in Suffolk with their dog Misty