Comments on: Mum, Dad, Alzheimer’s and Me ~ Review

By: janet

janet — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:10:49 +0000

how do reply to with what i read from fiona phillips.im wandering how many people feel anger and guilt. I’ts less than a year since my mum was diagnosed she has multi/mixed dementia with on set alzheimers.a thankyou to people like fiona who have made this very public and in some ways helping people like me to cope, but im not an myself i dont know how to deal with the illness. She is now in a nursing home last week i entered my mum’s flat for the last time i couldnt even turn the key in the lock is sad that im mourning my mums illness ive been told it is but i havent been offered any tests.

By: v dodd

v dodd — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 10:06:07 +0000

I have to say I was never a partiular Fiona Phillips fan before seeing the programme but after watching it I have changed my mind. How she juggled her job, Family and caring for her Father I do not know. My Mother had early-onset Alz in her mid-50s and it really is the most awful illness imaginable. I think the silver lining in this story is that Fiona is so high-profile she may well do a lot of good campaigning for the Society and that can only be a good thing.

I wish her luck with her Father – what a lovely man.

By: Kathy Cox

Kathy Cox — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 20:27:25 +0000

This programme was fantastic. My mum got Alzheimers when she was 50 years old and my dad and I looked after her until she died at 56 years old of pneumonia. Dad and I still kept full time jobs and had carers in to look after mum (but only in the last year that she was alive) – one was a member of our family. Some nights dad didn’t get any sleep whatsoever. It was so sad to see that Fionas mum had Alzheimers and now her dad also has it. I found it very hard and upsetting to watch the programme but it was great to see something about Alzheimers Disease as when my mum was poorly, it was not something that was talked about on tv very often. I completely sympathise with anyone who has to look after someone with Alzheimers. It is such a cruel disease and I hope in the future that more can be done to help people with Alzheimers.

By: Jill Miller

Jill Miller — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 09:10:47 +0000

I think Fiona is an inspiration to us all. I was amongst the millions of viewers who watched her last GMTV broadcast (actually I work full time, but had foolishly broken my leg the day before and could therefore watch the whole thing!!…every cloud…) There was a mention of course of her sick father and wanting to spend more time with her family, but having watched the incredibly moving documentary on Monday, I can’t believe that she managed to stay so astute, professional and yet still make us feel like she was the girl next door whilst away from the cameras, she had such turmoil going on privately.

By: Pat May

Pat May — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 22:37:44 +0000

I sympathise with Fiona – my Mum has been suffering with dementia for over 6 years. She had been living in London for over 60 years and my sister and I had to make the decision to move her into sheltered accommodation nearer to me 5 years ago. I had to call in every day as although we had Carers three times a day to give her medication and provide food and prompt her to eat sometimes when they arrived they wouldn’t be able to find the cutlery or the milk as Mum had hidden it. Or she wouldn’t let them in and be aggressive and abusive. We would get constant telephone calls through out the day and evening with her sobbing and threatening to go out and throw herself under a bus, or swearing and abusing us saying awful things. I, too, had promised her she wouldn’t go into a home,but circumstances change and a year ago my sister and I had to make the decision that she would be better cared for in a residential home. I thought I would feel relieved, but I just felt very sad and guilty that I couldn’t lookafter my Mum when she needed me. However, for the sake of my marriage and my health and her own wellbeing, I feel we made the right decision a the right time. No-one, unless they have experienced it, understands what the Carer is going through. The Alzheimer’s Society has been incredibly supportive. I attended their Course for Carers, which was so helpful and met a group of other women with whom I have kept in touch since and we meet regularly for coffee and lunch and have even had the occasional day out when they hve been able to get cover. The programme last night certainly touched a chord with me, but I felt it could have be more hard hitting, perhaps showing the abuse and aggression that some of the sufferers show to their Carers.
I’m sorry it I have rambled on, but there is so much to say. I could write a book, as I am sure others could too. Advice – take each day as it comes. Try to solve each problem as it arises and just remember we are only human – we don’t have endless patients, we are going to lose our temper, but I have to keep telling myself not to take things Mum says and does personally. It is not her it is the disease.

By: Anne Elizabeth Fox

Anne Elizabeth Fox — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 15:03:35 +0000

I was very moved by the plight of Fiona Phillips and the others featured in the Dispatches programme on Alzheimers. If it is possible I would like to offer a “helping hand” to Fiona as I have a few hours to spare and live in the Portsmouth area. Perhaps you could pass this message and e mail address on please. Thank you.

By: Natalie

Natalie — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 14:41:30 +0000

Wow! what a read! I never watched it, but your write ups
make me feel like I have, I was so ingrossed reading I
forgot myself for a while.

Poor Fiona that must be awfull!

By: Mrs Jones

Mrs Jones — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 11:10:38 +0000

I applaud Fiona Phillips documentary. As my husband suffers with frontal lobe dementia I can concur the problems this disease brings. My husband was diagonosed 2 years ago at the young age of 54 but I believe there were signs a year earlier.
This is a terrible wrench on families and as I have 2 children 18yrs and 22 years old it is a problem as they have lost the dad they had and I have lost a husband. As the documentary points out carers do not get the support they should have. However, the Caerphilly Branch of the Alzheimers Society are very good and I have nothing but praise for them.

By: Why I Love: Lacey Turner as Stacey Slater @ Unreality Primetime

Why I Love: Lacey Turner as Stacey Slater @ Unreality Primetime — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 10:04:25 +0000

[...] in the wake of Fiona Phillips’ Dispatches documentary about the sufferers of Alzheimer’s and the brave people who care for them, I felt that Lacey [...]