Extreme Knitting Redhead: All Systems Go

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

All Systems Go

Last Friday I got a phone call, out of the blue, from the Alzheimer's Research Trust asking if I'd mind being interviewed by a journalist from the Daily Express. Her name is Sarah and she'd been reading my blog about knitting my way round the London Marathon and wanted to include me in an article for their Lifestyle section. Crikey! Well, I could hardly say 'no' as it would be great publicity for the Alzheimer's Research Trust. Sarah telephoned me and we had a good old chat about how I started running and mum's illness etc. Then the Editor from the newspaper phoned and asked if their photographer could come and take a photo of me running and knitting so we arranged for him to come tomorrow. She asked that I use a bright coloured wool so it would show up in the paper.

That's when I realised I needed to get myself along to see Nicki at Laughing Hens to collect the yarn and needles she promised me. Nicki was great and let me rummage through the yarns to see what caught my eye. I knew I wanted red and orange so the Debbie Bliss 'SoHo' yarn is ideal as it will show up well when I'm running but I also wanted a contrast colour. Thankfully I spotted the lovely turquoise Colinette yarn called 'One Zero'. So here it is together with some nice wooden needles.

A massive THANK YOU to Nicki for providing me with the yarn and needles.

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Mum's Story

In 1997 my mother, then aged 81, had a series of minor strokes. Shortly after that we started to notice behavioural changes notably memory loss and confusion over everyday items. We thought it was just old age finally catching up with her. Then she started wandering and had violent mood swings. Although she already lived with us it became obvious that she couldn't be left alone for long and so I left my job to care for her. The next few years saw a gradual decline into the blackness that is 'vascular dementia'. My normally placid mum became violent and aggressive. She had psychotic incidents where she would see imaginary people (children hiding in her wardrobe, Russians sitting on the stairs, women stealing her clothes) and she would shout at them and sometimes throw things too. She was so convincing that we used to go and check that there wasn't anyone there! When my sister died mum did not know who Judy was or that she was her daughter. There came a point when I suddenly realised she no longer knew that I was her daughter and this was a terrible time for me. In the last 2 years that she lived with us, life for us all became almost unbearable as she needed 24 hour care - she couldn't be left alone at all because she would either wander off or hurt herself, she never slept for more than 30 minutes at a time during the night, she became incontinent and incapable of doing anything for herself. Finally my husband and I realised that we could no longer provide her with the care that she needed and she went to live in a special care home where the team did a splendid job caring for her in the last few months of her life. There she lived a zombified existence unaware of who she was, what she was or where she was. It was heartbreaking. She died in March 2005, the day after her 89th birthday.

Thank you for taking the time to read mum's story and I hope you'll dig deep and sponsor me using the link below to help find a way of beating this destructive disease.