![\"Left:](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/SEI_299034821-8de3.jpg\")
\n\t\tEventually, we went for tests and an MRI scan; which showed Colin had Alzheimer\u2019s (Picture: Jane Jennings)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tEventually, we went for tests and an MRI scan; which showed Colin had Alzheimer\u2019s (Picture: Jane Jennings)<\/p>\n
\u2018There\u2019s never a pen in this house!,\u2019 grumbled my husband<\/a>, Colin, as he rushed to the shops.<\/p>\n We had plenty of pens; but Colin was dashing out, yet again, to buy another huge bundle of biros\u202f\u2013\u202fas many as 50 at a time.\u00a0<\/p>\n I sighed. This bizarre behaviour was common at this point \u2013\u202fbecause Colin had been diagnosed with Alzheimer\u2019s disease<\/a> at just 68 years old.<\/p>\n I met Colin one Sunday in April 1978 at my local pub. I liked everything about him; he was clever and attractive, with\u00a0<\/strong>a lovely smile and\u00a0<\/strong>a great sense of humour.<\/p>\n Eight months later, I married<\/a> him.\u00a0<\/p>\n I put my career on hold because we wanted to start a family; but this\u202fwas not to be. I couldn\u2019t conceive. We tried IVF, which failed \u2013 I was later diagnosed with severe endometriosis<\/a> and then suffered a premature menopause<\/a>.<\/p>\n But we got past it together. As the years rolled on, life was good \u202f\u2013 \u202fwe were best friends<\/a> and fancied the pants off each other \u2013until 2021, when something happened\u202fthat changed our lives forever.<\/p>\n At this point, we were living peacefully in France, having moved there when Colin retired;\u202fwhen one day, wholly uncharacteristically,\u00a0when he was around 65, Colin suddenly started repeating himself.<\/p>\n Every time he said something, he would say it again a minute or two later. He got to the point where he kept on repeating whatever it was he had first said, as though he was stuck in a groove.<\/p>\n He\u2019d also stopped processing\u00a0<\/strong>anything I was saying \u2013 he\u2019d just stare at me as though he couldn\u2019t understand. Our conversations\u202fbecame entirely cyclical.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\tMetro Lifeline 2026\t\t\t<\/p>\n This year Metro is proudly supporting Alzheimer’s Society<\/a> for our 2026 Lifeline campaign.<\/p>\n As well as raising awareness through a series of articles sharing people’s experiences<\/a>, on Saturday 13 June 2026<\/strong>, a group of Lifeline trekkers – made up of readers, staff and families directly impacted by dementia – will be taking on an incredible challenge: an epic hike through the stunning Cotswolds countryside.<\/p>\n Their aim is to raise as much money as possible to help Alzheimer’s Society support people living with dementia, as well as their loved ones.<\/p>\n Every penny raised will go towards: <\/p>\n Last year alone donations to the charity allowed them to… <\/strong><\/p>\n Make 34,000 calls to combat loneliness through their Companion Calls, fuelled by brilliant volunteers.<\/p>\n Provide vital support 6 million times to people accessing their services <\/p>\n Speak to 71,000 people via their Dementia Support Line.<\/p>\n If you would like to support Team Lifeline and help raise money for Alzheimer’s Society, please click here<\/a>. <\/p>\n Eventually, we went for tests and an MRI scan; which showed Colin had Alzheimer\u2019s.<\/p>\n To say I was devastated would be an enormous understatement. I knew how serious the diagnosis was \u2013 both my parents (and, later, my brother) died\u00a0of complications from\u00a0Alzheimer\u2019s.<\/p>\n Colin, on the other hand, again just shrugged it off. In fact, he was in complete denial.<\/p>\n At first, the\u202favalanche of odd instances\u202f\u2013 like rushing out to buy endless packs of biros \u2013\u202fseemed almost laughable. Until he started getting up at 3:00am to make breakfast; lighting all four jets on the gas hob and leaving them lit. Not laughable.<\/p>\n And persuading him back to bed was all but impossible, given Colin had suddenly become uncharacteristically angry<\/a>. He became violent, smashing glasses, ornaments and crockery.<\/p>\n But Colin is not \u2013 and never has been, in any way \u2013 a violent man.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t If, during the day, he tried to leave the house, I could not calm him. But he was at risk out on his own.<\/p>\n Once, on a trip back to England, he disappeared to fetch something from our car and didn\u2019t come back for four hours. When, eventually, he returned it was in a state of collapse.<\/p>\n Back home in France, he deteriorated further.\u00a0<\/p>\n Nurses were coming in three times a day to check on him. He was on some form of tranquillizer to keep him calm; but nothing helped. He only got worse.\u00a0<\/p>\n Colin was now\u202fleaving the house\u202fat all hours of the night. I became afraid to sleep. I tried locking all the doors and windows and hiding the keys \u2013\u202fwhereupon he smashed a window.\u00a0<\/p>\n Anger had turned into physical violence with me whenever I attempted to check him. But\u202fI knew it wasn\u2019t Colin attacking me; it was Alzheimer\u2019s disease attacking\u00a0him.<\/p>\n Colin and I have lost everything; our home, our life together, everything we have lived and worked for<\/p>\n Quote On 1st January 2023, just as we were sitting down to lunch, he suddenly stormed out of the house.<\/p>\n The police brought him home the following morning\u202f\u2013 \u202fhe had overturned our car, totally writing it off.\u00a0<\/p>\n By some miracle Colin was not injured; nor, mercifully, was anybody else. But we\u2019d reached the end of the line,\u202fand he was admitted to full-time care.\u00a0<\/p>\n Even with nurses coming in three times a day, I could no longer safely look after my husband at home.<\/p>\n Colin was very angry about going into care. He kept saying he was perfectly all right; but he had no self-awareness of his condition.<\/p>\n For me, again, it was devastating. We hadn\u2019t been apart for 46 years.<\/p>\n In April 2024 I hired a private ambulance to bring Colin back to England, to a care home seven miles from the pub where we\u2019d first met. I thought returning to my home territory where I still have friends and family would help us both; and it has worked out very well.<\/p>\n \t\t Now,\u202fColin has stabilised. He is\u00a0<\/strong>very settled in care and often tells me he is happy.<\/a><\/p>\n I go to see him every day, and he\u202fis mostly calm and cheerful. Sometimes I take him out for coffee and cake.<\/p>\n But he has no functioning memory, short or long-term. He still recognises me\u202f\u2013\u202fbut,\u202falthough I try with all my might not to think of it, I know there will almost inevitably come a time when he does not.<\/p>\n The anger is still very much there; in the last year, Colin has suffered three episodes when he has been violent and difficult to calm.\u00a0<\/p>\n He\u202fdoesn\u2019t\u202fknow where he is; the day of the week; the time on his wristwatch.\u00a0<\/p>\n Overall, he is\u00a0<\/strong>still lovely \u2013\u202fbut\u202fhe\u2019s\u202fa different person.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\tLearn more about Alzheimer’s disease\t\t\t<\/p>\n For more information and to find support, you can visit the Alzheimer\u2019s Society website here<\/a>.<\/p>\n You can also call their dementia support line on 0333 150 3456<\/strong><\/a>; learn more about their support line here<\/a>. (If you are in an emergency situation, call 999 or 111.)<\/p>\n Today, there are around one million people suffering from dementia<\/a> in the UK, and\u00a0<\/strong>this\u202ffigure\u202fis\u202fexpected to rise to 1.4 million by 2040.\u00a0<\/strong>Not to mention, the annual cost of social care for people with dementia is \u00a317.2 billion, and these costs are expected to rise to \u00a340.7 billion by 2040.<\/p>\n Successive British governments have\u00a0<\/strong>failed to appreciate this is not an approaching crisis; the crisis is happening\u00a0now.<\/p>\n Alzheimer\u2019s Society is campaigning tirelessly for the government to deliver a bold and ambitious plan that demands better for everyone affected by dementia.<\/p>\n They\u2019re campaigning, for example, for a long-term investment in dementia diagnosis, which could improve treatment pathways for people with dementia, as well as for significant investment in social care.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a question of priorities, and dementia is a crisis soon to become a catastrophe. It\u2019s the biggest killer in the UK; it has destroyed my husband.<\/a><\/p>\n Colin and I have lost everything; our home, our life together, everything we have lived and worked for.<\/p>\n Action is needed; and needed now.<\/p>\n Do you have a story you\u2019d like to share? Get in touch by emailing jessica.aureli@metro.co.uk<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Share your views in the comments below.<\/strong><\/p>\n Arrow Arrow Arrow\n
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![\"Jane](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/SEI_299034253-8d45.jpg\")
\n\t\tColin and Jane on their wedding day (Picture: Jane Jennings)<\/p>\n\n
\nQuote<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n![\"Dementia](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1.4-million-8af2.gif\")
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\nMORE: The date was great \u2013 until I saw how he treated my dog<\/a><\/p>\n
\nMORE: He told me I had to be hairless \u2013 I told him I wasn\u2019t a child<\/a><\/p>\n
\nMORE: Apparently, this is the nonsexual act that men find insanely attractive<\/a><\/p>\n