Speaker John Watson - Dementia

It is now more than 5 years since Hilary was diagnosed with dementia. The final warning to John was when she set off to go to meeting of mothers union in her car. The journey should  have taken 5 minutes but she ended up in Harrogate lost. The police called John to say that she had knocked on a door in Harrogate and said she was lost and didn’t know what to do. The home owner called the police who called John and brought her home as well as her car. They asked John should she be driving?

John had been aware of a few symptoms beforehand so he took to the GP. It took 6 months from then to diagnose her with Alzheimer’s. He also took her to the William Merritt Disabled Living Centre in Rodley Leeds where she was given a driving test which she failed.

John went on a dementia awareness course where he learnt that the brain shrinks and connections can't get through like they used to do. 

Hilary used to be treasurer of mothers union and had an honours degree in Maths but she started asking John to help with the bookkeeping because she couldn’t remember how to do it. She eventually lost her memory of how to do every day things like get dressed, eat, and use computer etc.

The final big problem was when she got a blood clot on her leg and had to go into hospital. She was there for 7 weeks and when they then tried to get her out of bed she was immobile and couldn’t remember how to walk. This meant that John was no longer able to look after her and she had to go into Ghyll Royd nursing home in Guiseley. John said that she gets very good care there. Luckily unlike some dementia patients she is very placid.

John recently had his first conversation with her in several months when he said to her that was nice to see their son William just after Christmas and she said yes.

Dementia was the overall leading cause of death in the UK in 2023 in front of cancer. A diagnosis of dementia has lots of financial implications for the family as no help is received from the government until the persons assets fall below £23,250.