I’m wearing my forget-me-not in memory of my mum Anna who died aged 94 in 2018 but about 6 years before that the family had noticed that there was something missing at times, she had trouble recognising people and names. On one of my last visits to Belgium to the care home where she was she didn’t recognise me despite my sister telling her so I just went along with her train of thought and had a pleasant time. Soon afterwards my mum seemed to regress to the time of WII when Belgium was occupied, she told us to be careful what we said because anyone could be listening, that was the time that we realised that the mother we knew had gone. My saddest memory is a videoclip that my sister sent me whilst having a conversation about me with mum….no recognition at all.

We lost Dad two weeks ago after a 5 year battle with Alzheimer’s. We are devastated, such a cruel disease that took our lovely Dad from us .
On Friday it’s Dads Funeral and we will be wearing our forget me nots in his memory.
RIP Dad , we love you.💔

My husband Tony was diagnosed with Alzheimers when he was 66. I was able to care for him at home for 6 years but then sadly he needed to go into a care home. He passed away one month before Covid lockdown and we miss him so much

They say you can’t choose your family, but if you could I would choose my grandma every single time. A fighter whos laugh keeps me going even on the bad days. Love you and love the memories G’ma

My Granny (Avice) had Alzheimers, it is such a cruel disease to those who are around her - caring for, & loving her. However, to her she was back in the happiest time of her life. She was 93 when she passed (in covid), but in her mind she was 21. A time before she was married, & happily farming. All those memories for us around her were in our thoughts, but only remembered to her when looking at pictures. I was the only person she remembered.
As a family, we now look back when my Grandpa passed she was actually starting with the disease, but we all thought she was grieving for him, & all the signs got mixed up with grief to us.
Through all the daily emotions myself & my Grannny went through - please do a photo album for your loved one. As on those bad days (or at sunset), she will come back to the present briefly with those pictures!
Picture was taken speaking to me on my birthday at the beginning of covid, as we couldn't visit her.

My mom, Liz Johnson, was a teacher and more than anything, her own children were her sunshine. They were what she lived for.
So it was especially cruel that Alzheimer's came for her brain first. Her mind was her superpower. She used it to teach other people's kids for years, and she used it every single day to love hers. Watching that go, piece by piece, was one of the hardest things our family has ever faced. After a series of strokes, she passed away in July 2025.
Here's what I haven't lost: she was diagnosed the same month my daughter, Lyla, was born — September 2023. For two years, my mom and my daughter overlapped. I got to watch my mom be a grandmother, even as Alzheimer's tried to take that from her too.
She still shows up for us every day. In the patience I try to have with Lyla. In the way I catch myself teaching, the way she did. In the sunshine she always tried to be for her kids — I'm trying to be that for mine now.
I'm sharing her story because Alzheimer's took my mom's superpower before it took anything else, and I never want another family to watch that happen to someone they love without support behind them. This is for her, and for everyone still showing up for someone who's losing themselves.

My husband was diagnosed with Lewy Body Dementia in 2016 after a few years of knowing something was wrong but no official confirmation. He had spent a lifetime playing sport particularly tennis which he also coached many youngsters from ordinary backgrounds believing they should be given the opportunity to play.
Going from a talented tennis player to someone who in his final two years of life did not know us and did not communicate was heartbreaking. He spent the last two and a half years in a home and passed away in June 2023.
It was a happy release from the torture he went through. I pray that in the future there will be a cure but even something to allow a reasonable life to be lived.
The journey is hard and something that never leaves you.
Love you Ivor.

My mother suffered with dementia, and slowly over years she lost bits of her. First of all just insidious loss of her motivation to get ready or do anything . And then gradually becoming stuck watching television which she never did . Eventually she was bed bound . For a mother of 5 children, real achiever in the WI, and did an open university degree when I her youngest was 2. It is such a cruel disease, we must help find a cure . But also keep them socialising and listening to music and all the things that connect them to us , even when names and faces fail them .