The proud son of a Liverpool mum who suffered from dementia has raised hundreds of pounds to help others get an early diagnosis.
Alan Andrews ran the Great Eastern Run to raise money for the Liverpool-based charity PSS that helps people with the condition and their carers. Alan feels his family would have found it easier to cope if they had understood what their mother was going through.
A year on from the day his mum Vi died following a fall, Alan, his wife Jean and his sister Janette, handed over £1,300 to PSS, an organisation runs all sorts of services to help people with dementia stay independent and to support their carers. PSS also campaigns for more research into the condition and improved diagnosis and treatment by the medical profession, in partnership with Liverpool Hope University.
Alan’s father Mal battled on to cope, caring for his wife in their Wavertree home, without understanding why she was behaving as she was.
“I just think it would’ve helped us all if we’d known more early on,” said Alan, who now lives in Peterborough with his wife Jean. It was so difficult trying to deal with my mum’s condition, particularly for my dad. Doing the run helped me channel the sadness and confusion into something positive that’s being done in my mum’s home town.”
PSS Dementia Development Coordinator, Pam Stopforth, said: “It can be very frustrating and anxious for the families of people with dementia. We run training courses for the carers of people with the condition, so they can understand why the person is behaving as they are and adjust their behaviour to cope. We also provide all sorts of technological aids to help people with dementia stay in their own homes and manage everyday life for as long as possible. We are always in need of more funds for our work and it’s marvellous that Alan has taken the time and trouble to raise so much for us.”
Alan chose to raise money for PSS as his father had stipulated the money should go to a Liverpool based charity that was supporting people with dementia. Among the generous sponsors were pupils from Barlows primary school in Fazakerley where Alan’s sister Janette works. Alan travelled to Liverpool from Peterborough to hand over the money raise to PSS chief executive Lesley Dixon.
To find out more about what help PSS offers people with dementia and their carers, contact Pam Stopforth, Dementia Development Coordinator, tel 0151 702 5565, mobile 07764 469 363, e-mail pam.stopforth@pss.org.uk or log onto www.pss.org.uk or www.dementiacentre.com.