It’s important to function in society for as long as you can
Ronan in RTE Alzheimer’s tell-all
Ronan and wife Miriam guessing in the middle stages of dementia and he set off on this solo mission of just toughing it out.
DOOMED
“It was doomed to failure of course given what the condition does. It reached a point where we had to commit him as he was refusing to stop work.
“I drove him into St John of God’s Hospital knowing I wasn’t coming home with him. He never came out of there.”
By 2009, dad-of-three Ronan noticed similar behaviour patterns to those of his dad, who was also a key figure in the theatre industry. Having finished his last panto, he said: “Shaking off the workaholism I inherited as surely as the Alzheimer’s was a positive thing for me.
“It’s really important people with the disease are allowed to continue to function in society as long as they can.”
Ronan told how he will attempt a book about his journey with his dad.
He added: “Short-term is the first kind of memory you have difficulty with. So you can bore for Ireland about your past life, but what you did yesterday is a problem.”
Ronan is joined by a camera crew as he visits the memory clinic at St James’s Hospital for tests.
Afterwards, he said: “I just think losing your mind is not something that is easy to absorb or adapt to, people are legitimately terrified of it.
“There is no medication, but I think lifestyle and mindset are important to live as well as possible with Alzheimer’s.”
His three adult children have a 50/50 chance of developing the disease in later life and while gene tests are available his daughter Hannah and son Loughlin say they want to focus on their dad for now.
Ronan’s wife Miriam added: “It’s a huge worry. I try not to as it eats you up, eating into the time you do have, and you can’t afford to do that.”
My Broken Brain is on RTE One on Tuesday at 9.35pm.
RONAN SMITH FORMER RIVERDANCE MANAGER
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