Susan’s story: ‘why I left a gift in my Will’

“My mother, Annie, had dementia for ten years. It was not easily recognised at first as she was very resourceful in masking the symptoms. She was eventually diagnosed with vascular dementia and that diagnosis helped to access support at a local day centre and regular visits to the psychiatrist.

My mother was an active, independent woman who had worked all her life as well as managing the home, bringing up two daughters and caring for her husband. My father found her dementia very difficult to deal with. He would not recognise it as a disease and became increasingly stressed by the behaviours she manifested.

An Admiral Nurse was not available at the time but would have been such an enormous support to both my parents and to my sister and myself. I do not want other families to go through what we experienced without the help of a professional who knows and understands how to cope on a daily basis.