![\"Left:](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.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\u00a0a lovely smile and\u00a0a 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\u00a0anything 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, 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 Providing support to those impacted by dementia from day one<\/p>\n Funding vital research \u00a0<\/p>\n Campaigns and influencing change<\/p>\n Last year alone donations to the charity allowed them to… <\/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\u00a0very 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\u00a0still 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<\/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\u00a0this\u202ffigure\u202fis\u202fexpected to rise to 1.4 million by 2040.\u00a0Not 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\u00a0failed 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<\/p>\n Share your views in the comments below.<\/p>\n Arrow Arrow Arrow![\"Jane](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.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
\nQuote<\/p>\n![\"Dementia](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/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