TV presenter Fiona Phillips has opened up about how Alzheimer’s has affected her family.
Former GMTV co-host Fiona, 62, revealed in July she has been living with the disease for over 18 months.
The condition, which both of Fiona’s parents suffered with, meant she was subjected to months of brain fog and anxiety before her diagnosis.
She said earlier in the summer: “This disease has ravaged my family and now it has come for me.”
‘It is something I might have thought I’d get at 80’
Fiona added at the time how she was taking part in clinical trials for a new drug to treat Alzheimer’s.
As well as expressing hope she could be part of finding a cure, Fiona reflected: “It is something I might have thought I’d get at 80. But I was still only 61 years old.
“I felt more angry than anything else because this disease has already impacted my life in so many ways. My poor mum was crippled with it. Then my dad, my grandparents, and my uncle. It just keeps coming back for us.”
Now, two months since she shared her sad diagnosis, Fiona has given an update on the impact of her condition.
Fiona Phillips: Alzheimer’s update
Doctors at University College Hospital in London regularly monitor Fiona with cognitive tests to see if the trial drugs she is injected with every day might help stabilising or improve the symptoms of Alzheimer’s.
But despite doing her best to live with the condition, she admits she can struggle to come to terms with what’s happening.
Fiona told the Mirror: “I’m living with it by not letting it ruin things. I am just carrying on as much as I can.
“It’s when I talk about it that I can’t quite believe I’m talking about myself. I’m used to talking about it in relation to my mum and my dad having it… my whole family have been slaughtered by it.”
It’s when I talk about it that I can’t quite believe I’m talking about myself.
She went on in the same interview: “I’ve seen how bad it can be at first hand when my mum and dad had this illness and ended up in care homes. It is horrible.”
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