{"id":684569,"date":"2026-05-21T05:57:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T05:57:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/684569\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T05:57:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T05:57:23","slug":"familys-story-of-dementia-shines-spotlight-on-australias-leading-cause-of-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/684569\/","title":{"rendered":"Family’s story of dementia shines spotlight on Australia’s leading cause of death"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gwen Knox is far from a stranger to dementia.<\/p>\n

The West Australian woman has lost her grandmother, aunt, brother and sister to the disease.<\/p>\n

After her brother died, Broome-based Knox decided to write a play inspired by her family.<\/p>\n

\"Gwen<\/p>\n

Gwen Knox hopes her play helps to spread dementia awareness. (ABC Kimberley: Rachel Jackson)<\/p>\n

“I just thought I needed to write my family story before I got [dementia],” she said.<\/p>\n

Setting the family scene<\/p>\n

Set mostly in the 1970s, Scones with Nanna explores hidden Aboriginal heritage, emerging women’s independence and a deteriorating mind.<\/p>\n

\"Full<\/p>\n

The cast features West Australian actresses Liz Narkle, Tionne Eades and Shakalla Hadland. (ABC Kimberley: Rachel Jackson)<\/p>\n

Knox is a woman of Ballardong Noongar descent, but grew up believing she was Maori.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Audience members travel through Nanna’s house during the performance, and watch her slowly “descend into dementia”.<\/p>\n

“The classic, amazing irony of it all is she spent her whole life hiding the fact she was Aboriginal,” Knox said.<\/p>\n

“Then this play is about her forgetting everything \u2026 so after a while, it doesn’t really matter who she was.”<\/p>\n

Knox said she hoped the play sparked important conversations about loss, dementia and truth-telling.<\/p>\n

\"scone<\/p>\n

Audience members are served scones with jam and cream during the play. (ABC Kimberley: Rachel Jackson)<\/p>\n

“And the importance of getting stories before we lose people,” she said.<\/p>\n

“You’ll get a very interesting book out of them while they’ve got dementia \u2026 but it’s better to ask them before.”<\/p>\n

For its third year, the play has visited WA’s Kimberley and Pilbara regions, with the final destination Knox’s home town of Broome.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Woman<\/p>\n

The play visited the Kimberley and Pilbara this year. (ABC Kimberley: Rachel Jackson)<\/p>\n

One of the audience members attending is her sister-in-law, Wendy Knox.<\/p>\n

‘Shock’ diagnosis<\/p>\n

Wendy’s husband Rob, also Gwen’s brother, started showing dementia symptoms at 53.<\/p>\n

It was about two decades ago in Broome, and Knox said her husband’s diagnosis came as a shock.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Wendy Knox says it is important for people to be aware dementia does not have one look. (ABC Kimberley: Rachel Jackson)<\/p>\n

“You’re grieving from when the diagnosis comes in \u2026 you’re losing a little bit of that person every day,” she said.<\/p>\n

“The hardest part is seeing the person you’ve loved and lived with for so many years disappear.”<\/p>\n

Knox said awareness about dementia had come a long way since then, but it was important for people to be aware the condition presented in different ways, in people of varying ages.<\/p>\n

“The fact [is] it is happening at a much younger age with some sporting injuries and things we weren’t really aware of before,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Nanna “descends into dementia” as the play progresses. (ABC Kimberley: Rachel Jackson)<\/p>\n

Knox said her husband experienced personality changes at first, not just memory loss.<\/p>\n

Tyranny of distance<\/p>\n

In the latest report from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, dementia overtook heart disease as the leading cause of death for Australians.<\/p>\n

Research consistently shows rates are about three to five times higher for First Nations people.<\/p>\n

\"Woman<\/p>\n

Fiona Simpson says support is available for those living with a diagnosis, and their carers. (Supplied: Dementia Australia)<\/p>\n

Dementia Australia WA state manager Fiona Simpson said one of the greatest challenges for people living in remote areas was receiving a timely diagnosis.<\/p>\n

“They might not be able to access specialists, and they might have to travel long distances to get treatment and diagnostic services,” she said.<\/p>\n

Ms Simpson said it was important for people to know care and support was available.<\/p>\n

“Not just for people living with a diagnosis of dementia, but for those involved in their care,” she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gwen Knox is far from a stranger to dementia. The West Australian woman has lost her grandmother, aunt,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":684570,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[449,64,63,24513,9757,330010,330012,137,22561,6342,38633,330011,45,330013,3439],"class_list":["post-684569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-arts","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-broome","tag-dementia","tag-dementia-awareness","tag-gwen-knox","tag-health","tag-kimberley","tag-performance","tag-play","tag-scones","tag-wa-news","tag-wendy-knox","tag-western-australia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=684569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/684570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=684569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=684569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=684569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}