RUNNING IN THE FAMILY

Jean Catliff’s abiding memory of her mum is of a little old lady with a dowager’s hump.

‘She shrank and had this lump on her back, and it really affected her life. It wasn’t just my mum – my dad was told he had osteoporosis in his 60s, and then my brother. About 10 years ago I slipped in the lounge and fell backwards, and when they scanned me they discovered I had broken two bones in my back – and there was a previous fracture I knew nothing about.

I was in my 50s but I had the bones of a 90 year old. I took bisphosphonates for four or five years but found the side effects too difficult to live with. So I’ve changed my lifestyle to protect myself – my brother is so badly affected that he is in a wheelchair in constant pain, and I want to do everything I can to avoid that. I joined a gym, I do Pilates and I get plenty of calcium and vitamin D. It seems to be working. I’ve lost 4in in height and I’m a bit round shouldered, but I’ve had no more fractures.’