Wendy Mitchell in her kitchen

Wendy Mitchell’s book about dementia: ‘Somebody I used to know’

Wendy Mitchell was diagnosed with young-onset Alzheimer's disease in 2014, aged 58. Here she shares exclusive excerpts from her book about dementia 'Somebody I used to know' and the conversation she had with work colleagues about her dementia diagnosis.

Since her dementia diagnosis, Wendy has taken part in vital research and won an Inspiring Individual award in 2017. Now, she is about to publish a new book titled 'Somebody I used to know'.

Here, Wendy reflects on sharing her dementia diagnosis with her NHS colleagues. This is followed by two exclusive excerpts from her book, which look back at Wendy meeting with her employers after her diagnosis, then seeking information from Alzheimer's Society's resources.

Quote from Wendy Mitchell's memoir

Telling work colleagues about a dementia diagnosis

It became apparent that my team at work would soon realise things weren’t right. I couldn’t hide it much longer. I had to tell them, but how?

I’d recently become a Dementia Friends Champion, and one day the ideal screensaver appeared on everyone's screen. It was all about Dementia Awareness. Obviously, this was relating to patients but gave me the ideal opportunity to deliver a Dementia Friends session to the whole team.

When it appeared in their calendar, they would simply think it was in relation to everything else going on in the hospital. The ideal opportunity.

Delivering a Dementia Friends session

I remember feeling nervous. I remember the small room filled with all eyes on me. I remember feeling hot and uncomfortable. But I started off with the Bingo session to relax everyone and laughter and the need to win overtook any concerns they had when they walked in.

Next, I remember going through the Bookcase Analogy and thoughtful eyes suddenly appearing on faces. It was at the end of the session that I told them:

'The reason I’ve taken you through a Dementia Friends session is because I’ve been diagnosed with young-onset dementia and now need all your help.'

The animated group that had walked into the session now appeared sad and thoughtful.

You could hear the tumbleweed rolling and eyes appeared downcast and confused. The animated group that had walked into the session now appeared sad and thoughtful. I knew they needed time to digest the information and talk among themselves.

Before I left for the day, I sent them all an email saying that my door was always open and if they had any questions to simply ask me. I left feeling exhausted but it was now all out in the open, and I just knew my team would come good.

Care and concern from colleagues

The next morning, I was overwhelmed by their concern, questions and suggestions for how they could help me. By being honest with them, I knew, from the relationship we had, that they would be there for me.

No one tells you how to break the news to work colleagues. It's one support that should be given to any staff member going through the same as I did. The Human Resources (HR) team should have supported me on how to deliver the news. Hopefully things may have changed a little for the best now.

There’s no point in keeping it a secret otherwise colleagues will only make up their own stories of why you’re struggling and may be less supportive.

No one should be ashamed of having dementia – it’s a complex brain disease so why on earth should we be ashamed?

But employers need to help and support staff in this often difficult situation.

Once people understand WHY something is happening, you’ll be surprised how supportive and helpful those around you can be, just like my wonderful team. And for those who aren’t, well that’s their problem and employers should, again, step in and speak out for the person with dementia.

Wendy Mitchell and her book Somebody I Used to Know

1. Excerpt from 'Somebody I used to know'

Wendy moves towards early retirement

The notes I’d made sit abandoned inside my folders. It is as if the decision had already been made for me before I even entered the room. I watch as she makes notes and fills in forms, her pen skipping along, ticking boxes. She doesn’t look up to include me. Perhaps she thinks she’s making it easier for me this way, making the decisions so I don’t have to. Others have also suggested I retire due to sickness, but I’ve shunned the idea. I’m not sick – I am well; I just need help and advice. But it’s sadness, not anger that wells inside me.

She has a form in front of her where she needs to write her recommendations, and I sit watching, helpless as she begins to fill in one particular section: 'Incapable of meeting the demands of her NHS employment'. My fate has been decided.

Money matters

I still have a mortgage to pay, so reducing my hours was never an option. I won’t be able to pay the bills, and so, just as she’s suggested, early retirement is the best way. At least then I’ll get a lump sum to pay off my mortgage.

I’m trying so hard to look at the positives. But as I leave her office, clutching a copy of the form she filled in, any hope I had in the health system evaporates. The system itself, my manager, even occupational health – they’ve all abandoned me. I have been able to advise them far more than they have me. I am working within the NHS and I still can’t get the support I need. What chance do others with dementia have?

I know I still have a valuable contribution to make and I’m not ready to write myself off. I have worked hard to get to where I am and I don’t feel ready to give it all up. It seems like I’m shouting and screaming into the wind. I am not sick. I want to be heard. I am angry, but more than anything, I am sad and deflated.

2. Excerpt from Somebody I used to know

Wendy finds help from Alzheimer's Society

Since I found the page on the Alzheimer’s Society website offering to send out free leaflets and books about a whole range of subjects on dementia, more and more have been arriving for me each day.

I’d gone through the whole checklist, ticking every box in my desire for information – any information – that might tell me more. I rip open each envelope when he’s gone, flicking through the titles: Keeping Safe At Home, Talking To Children About Your Illness, Planning Ahead.

I put them in a pile on my coffee table; right now it’s enough to have them nearby. A comfort blanket for darker days.

In the last few days I’ve started a blog called Which Me Am I Today? It’s somewhere I can put all this new information I’m discovering and, most importantly, it serves as my memory when I know that each night my brain is deleting files as I sleep – the day before becoming as much of a mystery as the day ahead.

I still feel abandoned by the doctors who diagnosed me, so instead I scan the internet, my desire to learn more and more, to equip myself with something other than fear, pushing me on to click on more pages, to absorb everything I possibly can. The only thing, of course, is holding on to all that new information. I glance at the books on the coffee table.

Behind the headlines

It’s been the same with every headline about dementia since I was diagnosed. I’d read one after another, my heart lifting at the thought of the miracle cure that most newspapers suggested might be on the horizon.

I started taking vitamin E because it was claimed it could slow the progress of the disease. I stockpiled my cupboards, popping a pill into the daily box with all the others. But when one day I started to run out, I scoured the internet for more evidence, switching from tabloid newspaper headlines to research papers, and discovered there was little to prove it had any real effect. I threw the last empty bottle into the bin and didn’t replace it.

Most newspapers will tell their readers that a healthy lifestyle helps prevent Alzheimer’s, and I think of my old running shoes at the back of the wardrobe and remind myself not to believe everything I read. Now each headline fills me with a niggling disappointment instead of the hope it once did.

I still want a cure, desperately. There’s nothing wrong in hoping, but expecting – that just feels like pre-planned disappointment. Is it not better to live for today, just keeping in mind tomorrow? But then I think of my daughters: what if they were ever diagnosed with it?

Getting involved

There has to be something more that I can do. My eyes fall on another leaflet I’ve collected on my travels, What To Do When A Potential Brain Donor Dies. I shift in my chair; that’s not what I mean. I want to do something now; I don’t want to just sit here and wait for this disease to make its march on my mind.

I balance my laptop on my knee and type in the details for the Alzheimer’s Society, and that’s when I see the words: Be Involved.

I send an email, telling whoever will be reading it that I want to be involved as much as possible, while I still have the opportunity, feeling, as I type, the continuing sense of urgency that has settled itself inside me.

A few days later I open an email explaining that the Alzheimer’s Society is putting together a national Join Dementia Research database, and they want to know whether I’d like to help raise awareness in Yorkshire. I know from my own findings that dementia research lags far behind that into cancer or heart disease, and the way of discovering more is to appeal for volunteers for studies, not just those with the disease, but their families, caregivers, and even people who simply want to help. I think of Gemma and Sarah again, and the hope of finding a cure in their lifetime, so I write back, explaining I’m happy to do anything.

Looking ahead

The following week I’m on a train to London to receive media training. The idea is that with some training I’ll know what to expect when journalists interview me and how to answer them, either in print, or on TV or radio.

The world whizzes by at the windows and I feel thankful for the miles that pass between me and home, for the opportunity to be out in the world doing something, making a contribution instead of sitting idle and allowing this disease to spread not only through my own brain, but those of others. I think of all the people who have so tragically lost limbs or have had heart attacks and the technology that has been developed through research to help them, but what is there for dementia?

We need those same brilliant brains to develop tools to help us with our memory, speech and cognitive problems so we can lead better lives. So we can live with Alzheimer’s. I vow to say yes to anything I’m asked to do to help this cause.

Read more by Wendy

Wendy's book 'Somebody I used to know' is available now from Alzheimer's Society's shop. You can also read her blog on living with dementia, 'Which Me Am I Today?'.

Buy Wendy's book Read Wendy's blog

This blog post was originally published in 2018 in two parts. In 2021, it was combined into one post.

11 comments

Hi Wendy.... Bravo, Bravo, Bravo - wonder woman!!! I love your book so inspiring.......beyond helpful. I am an Artist living in Vancouver BC Canada and I am living with dementia - Cerebrovascular Disease - Vascular Dementia. Like you I'm in the process of writing a book with help from my Art Therapist. Title - An Artist's Journey Living with Dementia. My mixed media art, collage and drawings will be in the book. I'm wondering Wendy if it would be okay for me to mention you, your books maybe maybe a photo of you with your books. You have so much to offer those like us. Please let me know if you will accept my offer. If so I'd be so delighted..... Love and Peace..... onward.

Hi everyone,I have a very simple suggestion, but it will take you very far developing your wisdom, so that you will understand and come to terms with your self first. Simply because we came to this world alone, and we will be going to death or ending our lives also alone.
Please find out about "breath meditation " where you can control ur mind and can think clear and achieve mindfulness. When you can concentrate your mind for a one thing (ur breath coming in and out through nostrils and following it right through) you will slowly understand the natural process of life. With that you will not run all over asking help from everyone. Just practice for few minutes each day to see if you can concentrate and find peace within you . Thanks. Wish all of you success in finding a relief for Alzimers decease!!!

what a cheek! how dare you"run all over asking for help"people with alzimers are entiteld to help and should not have to run all over looking for it.

What a terrible misunderstanding Jane, I'm really sorry for ur poor understanding. Who said to run all over for help for people with Alzheimer's?? What I meant was people like Wendy, who has not gone too far with the disease, they can slow down the progress, by that kind of an exercise to the brain and mind.

Well my life is in a right mess. I have recently been diagnosed with Vascular Dementia and I am now feeling very depressed about what the future holds for my wife and I. What is worse my wife is now bed ridden with Multiple Sclerosis. When she was taken to the John Radcliffe hospital she was taken to ward 7d and received no treatment.Every time she asked to be taken out of the bed and transferred to an adjacent chair for exercise the nurses
refused "as it might hurt our backs'' so she was left in bed for over 2 weeks with no phsiotherapy or exercise. I would add that my wife was a nurse!!!

Hello Keith. We're so sorry to hear about the difficulties you're facing at the moment, as well as your wife's upsetting experience in hospital. Please rest assured that we are here to provide you with any help or guidance that we can.

You may benefit from speaking with one of our Helpline advisers. All calls are confidential and may be helpful if you're seeking information, support and advice: 0300 222 11 22.

Alternatively, you can contact the National Dementia Helpline Advisers through our Live Online Advice service: https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/info/20012/helpline/686/live_online_advice They’re available between 9am-12pm from Monday to Friday, and also 6pm-8pm from Monday to Wednesday.

Our online forum Talking Point is a useful resource for support and information: https://forum.alzheimers.org.uk You can share experiences with other people also affected by dementia. You may wish to join an existing discussion or ask your own question. Learn more about this service here: https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/info/20013/talking_point_-_our_online_com…

for 27 years with my wifes help i have been looking after my daughter with a spinal ingury at nearly 88 i am looking after my wife as well i do not feel that i have recieved any help from alzheimers society my care is 24 hours a day and night when i asked for a small artical to be put in script it was ignord i cannot talk to anyone as my wife is always beside me i belive money was spent on a connection with diabetis i cannot see why

Hi there - thank you for getting in touch. It sounds like you're going through a very difficult time.

We would recommend you speak with one of our Helpline advisers. All calls are confidential and may help you find the information, support and advice you're looking for: 0300 222 11 22. If making a telephone call is difficult, we also suggest contacting our National Dementia Helpline Advisers through our Live Online Advice service. They're available between 9am-12pm from Monday to Friday, and also 6pm-8pm from Monday to Wednesday.

We hope this is helpful.

Wendy
I found your story very compelling and you sound incredibly brave to face this head on and to share your experience and how you deal with things day-to-day. My mum was diagnosed 6 years ago with late onset Alzheimers and wish I could have understood more about the disease then. We had a very hard time, never knowing what she was thinking etc. Reading your story has helped me immensely to try to understand more of what her thoughts may have been. Mum is almost 88 and has been in care for 3 years now and sadly the Alzheimers has its final grip on her. Be proud of your book and take comfort that what you wrote has helped me and im sure will help others to understand what its like for the sufferer. Usually by the time people are diagnosed, they have lost too much to be able to explain. My very best wishes to you and your family.

Dear Wendy, I am currently reading your book and cant put it down. I am a dementia friend so read everything that concerns or explains about dementia. Many years ago I worked as the administrator in a care home and saw how dementia robbed some of our residents of their individuality, their inability to carry out simple tasks as the disease progressed and especially their inability to converse with their friends and families.
With my kindest wishes from Viv Kerry

Congratulations Wendy for your honesty & hope where you live can become dementia friendly. Are there Dementia Friends in the area to help set up & organise things?
I hope your Daughters will be supportive & find out about what Care can be arranged from NHS Continuing Healthcare, & how to qualify for this benefit which is not means tested . You may become eligible later when a little older.
18 Months ago I set up a website to help people following the death of my Wife Pauline. Details are at https://continuinghealthcare.wordpress.com/
Best wishes. Peter Garside