Life with Alzheimer’s

SIR – How sad to hear the news about the actress Barbara Windsor’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis (report, May 10) – and how sensible of the family to announce it.

Five years ago, my husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. We live in a town in the Cotswolds where most people know each other, and as he had been the local pharmacist he knew most people. We decided to let the diagnosis be known. It was the best decision we could have made. The support we have had has been amazing, and five years on everyone we meet is very understanding.

Alzheimer’s is just another illness: an awful one, but nothing to be ashamed of having. Tessa Mclusky

Wotton-under-edge, Gloucestershire