Real stories

Q&A: Annie Dow, who lives with young-onset Alzheimer’s

What’s changed most since your diagnosis? 

Friends – I don’t see them very often. I think they think that I’m going to have a meltdown every time someone talks to me.

It’s not that they’re being nasty, I just think they’re worried they’ll say something wrong. It’s a shame because we get lonely and want to be out and about in the community just like we always were.

We need a little bit of help, but I don’t think it’s communicated widely that yes, if you’ve got dementia, you can still have a life.

What would you take to your desert island? 

A Bernard Cornwell book because he’s brilliant – and my sister. Bernard Cornwell writes fiction but it’s based on history, so I learn while I read.

Then an ice cream van on the beach so I can have a Whippy.

How has Alzheimer’s Society helped you?

You’ve helped a lot, particularly my Dementia Adviser. It was nice just to have somebody to talk to in the beginning – to have a voice when I felt I didn’t know what was going on.

It gave me the confidence to go through my dementia journey.

What song or tune sums up your life so far?

You’ve Got a Friend in Me by Randy Newman. I’ve had some fabulous friends, and I try to help the people a little bit further on in their dementia journeys as much as I can.

What single thing would improve your quality of life?

To move out of this house. It’s huge with an expansive garden which has gone Pete Tong now. I came here thinking, ‘Oh yeah, I can do that,’ and now I can’t. 

If I moved, I would stay in the same area because I wouldn’t want to start all over again with new support workers.

If you could go back in time, where would you go?

I would go back to when I was about five years old and my sister and myself were doing horse riding lessons. I remember Brownie, the first horse I learned to ride, and my mum and my dad being there. 

Of course, there were other people around, but I don’t see them – I just see my family having a good time. That’s a precious memory.

What is your most treasured possession?

My mum gave me a blue glass pendant and it has a rhyme on it about the relationship between mother and daughter. It’s very personal and precious to me.