This book provides a frank and fearless account of how the intellect and personality of an extremely fit and capable man in the prime of life, an army bomb disposal expert who had already risen to the rank of major and was married with two young children, gradually unravelled before the very eyes of both his family and his military colleagues.
After exhibiting increasing difficult and challenging behaviour over several years, Clive was eventually diagnosed with younger onset dementia in November 1993 at the tragically young age of 45 and died less than seven years later at the age of 51.
While it took several years for his diagnosis to be confirmed, Clive’s wife, Helen, a computer programmer, believes that it all started in 1986, when they returned from two years of living in Dubai. She recounts a number of incidents, which, with the benefit of hindsight, she believes were probably early signs of her husband’s slowly advancing dementia:
- Having not had a road accident in over 20 years, in early 1988 Clive crashed his car on a motorway on the way back from a military exercise.
- When Helen got a part-time life in 1989, he struggled to remember the names of any of her colleagues.
- Shortly before Christmas in 1989 he unilaterally decided they should adopt a friend’s cat when the friend moved abroad – without even consulting Helen about it beforehand.
- By early 1991 he was clashing regularly with his army superiors and received a number of warnings, one of them written, about his difficult and confrontational attitude and behaviour.
- After leaving the army in 1992 and joining the Territorial Army, he was sent home early from a week-long training exercise and summarily discharged, after which Helen received a mortifying letter from the TA saying he had become “a laughing-stock”.
- Now forced to spend his time at home while job hunting, Helen noticed that he struggled to prepare even the simplest of meals and ruined several items of her clothing by throwing a jumble of unsorted clothes into the washing machine on a hot cycle.
Clive was by now himself aware that he was starting to struggle and, unbeknown to Helen, had been going for cognitive tests. Eventually he asked her to accompany him to see a neurologist. Following an adverse reaction to a CT scan, in October 1993, Clive finally admitted that he wasn’t fit to work and was signed off sick by his GP.
A few days later, the neurologist phoned Helen at the end of a very long day to confirm that Clive had pre-senile dementia and that he would forward details to his GP. He then rang off with a cursory “I’m sorry and goodbye.” Ironically, Helen admits that, although it was delivered in what can only be described as a callous and brutal way, the diagnosis came as something of a relief.
A few weeks later Clive was referred to the Oxford Project to Investigate Memory and Ageing (OPTIMA) Giving to the Oxford Project to Investigate Memory and Ageing and was diagnosed with semantic dementia and probable Alzheimer’s. OPTIMA proved an invaluable source of both advice and support for Helen, as she strove to keep life as normal as possible, both for Clive, and for herself and their young children. It is a great credit to Helen’s resourcefulness and determination, not to mention her love for her husband, that family life was able to continue relatively normally for nearly four more years.
However, it gradually became clear that it would be safer for Clive to receive full time care in a residential setting and he finally moved to a nursing home in April 1997. He sadly died two years later at the age of 51 from endocarditis, an infection of the heart valves, having lived more than 12 years from the time he first started revealing the early signs of dementia, and nearly 6 years from the date of diagnosis.
After Clive’s death, Helen went on to found the Oxfordshire-based Clive Project (The Clive Project – working for Younger People with Dementia in Oxfordshire) with the aim of getting better support for people with dementia , especially those with younger onset dementia.
Helen then moved to Manchester to study for a PhD, focusing on the use of MRI scans to detect the early signs of dementia. She completed her PhD in 2015 and stayed on in Manchester to undertake further scientific research into dementia. In recognition of her work to raise awareness of dementia, Dr Helen Beaumont has since been made a Champion of Alzheimer’s Research UK.
This book will be of great interest and help to anyone who is worried whether a close relative or friend may be showing the early signs of dementia. It will enable them recognise what signs to look out for and how to set about obtaining a formal diagnosis. Thereafter, it will show them the practical and financial steps they will need to take to help their loved one live the best life possible in the years they have left to them. Written with a rare combination of objectivity and compassion, it could be summed up as A Practical Guide to Younger Onset Dementia for Family Members. If you have a loved one that is struggling with dementia and need support, contact us today Contact Chesterford Homecare
