News and Updates
May 2026 – Here and gone all at once
Like many carers before her, and countless others in her position, the wife of Bruce Willis – Emma Heming Willis – discovers the key to a more relaxed lie with her husband after he was diagnosed with Fronto Temporal Dementia. Most of us have heard of Bruce Willis and...
APRIL 2026 – The Golden Rule: do unto others…
I was walking with a new friend the other day exchanging anecdotes about our life experiences and she was very interested in what I had to say about how to talk with people living with cognitive decline. ‘That’s very interesting’ she said, ‘I don’t know how to talk...
October 2025 Post – The ‘wide, unbroken vistas’ of dementia. ENTERING A PAST YOU DO NOT KNOW
What do you do if the person you are living with moves imperceptibly from this ‘now’ you are living together to a ‘past now’ that you know nothing about? You are both sitting side by side, on the park bench, looking at the squirrels scuttling from tree to tree and,...
September 2025 Post – THE PERSON STILL THERE – The Bruce Willis Story
THE PERSON STILL THERE – a quote by Emma Heming Willis It is with much warmth and dignity that Emma Heming Willis talks about adapting to the ‘new life‘ that she now shares with her husband Bruce Willis as his brain and body are progressively disabled by Fronto...
April 2025 Post – EVER MORE CONFUSION? How NOT to ‘get ‘dementia’
I have been trying to put some order into the news reporting in the media of causes of ‘dementia’. Over the last few years, from about 2020 to present days, almost on a daily basis, science journalists report on new research findings on plausible causes of ‘dementia’...
March 2025 Post – The Rally
On 26 February 2025 I listened to a fascinating programme on Radio 4, called The Rally presented by Emily Knight. Apparently the rally, or the last rally, is a phrase that describes a phenomenon often observed just before – sometimes hours or days before – death...
January 2025 Post – What is Stigma?
ADDRESSING DEMENTIA STIGMA – THE ADI’S WAY AND MY WAY WHAT IS STIGMA? Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI) defines stigma as: The word stigma describes when a person or a group of people is treated unfairly because the person or group is perceived to be...
December 2024 Post – What is Dementia?
It must be obvious by now that I do not like the word ‘dementia’. I do not like it because it is such a bad word, loaded with so much negativity. With so many people around the world being so frightened by this terrible word that they will hide their symptoms telling...
November 2024 Post – Stigma Persists – The ADI 2024 World Alzheimer’s Report
‘Stigma remains high’ says Paola Bardolino -CEO at ADI - Alzheimer’s Disease International ADI makes use of a great deal of world-wide human resources, across all continents, to raise awareness and to tackle stigma. It has been working incessantly to eradicate...
October 2024 Post – Notes on Communicating
I highly recommend this series of eight episodes on Radio 4 - Communicating with Ros AtkinsEach of the guests on this series of conversations highlights key principles that are important to them in their work as communicators in their own field of expertise. What...
September 2024 Post – The Power of Language
I have been listening, on and off for a number of years, to Word of Mouth, with Michael Rosen, on Radio 4. I usually pick it up quite by accident as I am driving or when I preparing dinner. On 29-08-2024 – driving on the M11 – the subject matter on that day’s episode...
August 2024 Post – 1 in 762 Chances
It is four months since the 36th Global Conference of Alzheimer’s Disease International at which my virtual contribution (click here to watch my video presentation on YouTube) - had 1 in 762 chances of attracting attention and being selected for viewing over three...