Dementia UK
Our charity partner Dementia UK is the specialist dementia nursing charity. Its specialist nurses, known as Admiral Nurses, provide free, tailored advice and support to help families care for their loved one and ensure no one faces dementia alone.
Supporting families
Every three minutes someone in the UK develops dementia. One in two people will be affected by dementia in their lifetime – whether by caring for someone with the diagnosis, developing it themselves or both. It often leaves people feeling overwhelmed and alone, pushed to their emotional, physical and financial limits.
The family in this video share their experience.
If you would like to learn more about Dementia UK, or you are living with dementia and need help and support visit the Dementia UK website (opens in a new window).
Show transcript
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So my name's Penny and my mum, Rosemary has dementia.
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Mum played the piano all the time when I was growing up. It's
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one of my earliest memories
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before dementia. She was the most fun loving, chatty person
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you could know. She was a music teacher. She met my dad and they
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married and moved out to the countryside of Oxfordshire.
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The first time I noticed something was wrong was when my
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dad died. She used to think that she was collecting us from
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school and she'd set the table for tea and she just became
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quite muddled towards the end of the day. I just really found it
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hard to watch her doing that.
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After the diagnosis, we had no support at all, so we really
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just had to face it on our own. We discussed it all very early
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on. She wanted to be at home and just be the person she always
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was. Because the day you get your diagnosis, it doesn't
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change who you are.
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We reached a point where Mum wasn't coping at home. I wasn't
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able to keep her safe anymore. I found out about the Dementia UK
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helpline and called up and spoke to a specialist Dementia Admiral
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nurse who was absolutely lovely and gave me so much support. Not
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just practical support, but also emotional support to help me
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recognise that it was OK to feel how I was feeling.
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It's very difficult. She lives in her own world. She doesn't
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always know who I am,
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but I feel like she would be hopefully proud of
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the decisions I made for her.
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That's what I think she would be proud.
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Dementia clinics in our branches
Free, life-changing support for people affected by dementia.
Dementia UK is offering face-to-face clinics with an Admiral Nurse in Nationwide branches. Appointments are held in a private space.
Book a free confidential appointment for advice and support including:
- getting a diagnosis
- understanding symptoms and changes in behaviour
- practical tips for carers
- choosing a home or residential care
- emotional support
Centrepoint - tackling youth homelessness
Every 4 minutes, a young person faces homelessness.
Every young person deserves to have a safe place to call home where they can rebuild their life and move towards a better future.
Action for Children - helping families living in poverty
30% of children in the UK are living in poverty.
Action for Children helps families through crisis, and fights for an end to child poverty and hardship.