大象传媒

Carolyn turns 86 on April 23rd - a birthday she shares with Shakespeare and St George. Son Andrew reflects on the cruelty of dementia as he looks at a picture he took on her 80th birthday in 2016. It was a year after her husband Peter died and a year before the disease began to rob her of her memory and personality. He contrasts the smiling, neatly dressed woman looking out from the family photo with the Mum of 2022. She's now totally unaware of her birthday and spends most of the time sleeping, but is still - physically - in pretty good health. With no experience of dementia in the family no-one knew what lay ahead. Andrew says: "I just wish, mentally, she was the Mum I'm looking at here". Mum and Me: The Dementia Diary was originally broadcast on 大象传媒 Radio Leeds.