Too late for Mum... but new drug brings hope
Slowly losing my mum to Alzheimer’s was the worst period of my life. I’d actually go to bed praying she would die in her sleep. It wasn’t a selfish wish – I loved her and couldn’t bear to see her like that. She hated it too. So this week marks a turning point in the fight against this cruel disease. A US company has announced a wonder drug that could slow Alzheimer’s.
Aducanumab could soon be on the market, helping millions. Time will tell.
Time was something robbed from my mum, Maureen. She was a brilliant woman. She brought up eight kids, was strong, sociable, never got ill and never moaned.
She was diagnosed when she was in her early 70s and never accepted it. I was 39 and my youngest, Ciara, was three at the time.
It was heartbreaking to see my wonderful mum become someone else. She turned aggressive, which was horrendous because she was the most laid-back woman you’d ever meet. All of a sudden she’d be this angry, violent person we didn’t recognise.
We tried to look after Mum for the first two or three years. She had her own sheltered accommodation but we had to take her out of that. She’d started to do things that were dangerous.
She would put the kettle on the gas ring and me and my brother would go around and the whole flat would be filled with smoke but she’d be sitting there, oblivious. She lost all concept of time.
Once, she walked to my house at 4am and hammered on the door and when I answered, she said: “Why are you still in bed? You’re lazy.”
My mum, when she was well, was always out and about – she loved her bingo and was involved in the church. She went to church every day and did loads of charity events with them. She used to walk for miles too – she hated being indoors.
The disease took all that from her. My family watched her sink and felt helpless.
It got to a point where it was too dangerous for Mum to be left on her own.
We found her a great home, Chaseley Care Home in Blackpool, and the staff were fantastic. They looked after her so well. We saw her every day and we’d
take her out in a wheelchair. Then it got to the stage where she was bedridden.
She was only 5ft but had been a size 20 most of her life. By the end she was only about four-and-a-half stone. She just withered away.
My mum was tormented. She didn’t know any of us by the end, there’d be nothing in her eyes, she wouldn’t even speak.
We celebrated her 80th birthday early. If there is a god, he listened to me, because she passed away peacefully in her sleep.
It was about 10.30pm. It was extremely upsetting but, I’ve got to be honest, when I got home there was such a sense of relief.
I’m terrified of the disease now. Terrified it will take me and mean I do not recognise my own children.
Every time I forget where I’ve put my car keys, I have a mild panic attack.
I desperately hope this drug will be the turning point. The massive breakthrough that will change millions of lives.
After years of supporting Alzheimer’s charities and donating to try to find a cure, this has brought hope.
People see Alzheimer’s as an old person’s disease but it is not – it can even affect children. It can come at any time.
If they have managed to find something that could slow it down, hopefully we are a step closer to getting rid of it once and for all. No one should have to go through that awful suffering.