Husband's early onset dementia inspires new book

"It would be lovely to think that out of something so sad, something positive could come."

A grandmother whose husband was diagnosed with early onset dementia 10 years ago has written a book to help explain the condition to young children.

A decade on from his diagnosis, Mandy Bent's husband David is unable to have a conversation and is in residential care.

The 58-year-old, who lives in Derbyshire and has three young grandchildren, hopes her book, Grandad Has Got Dementia, will help other families in a similar situation by offering tips to deal with the challenges the condition brings.

On Monday, at the start of Dementia Action Week, she will launch a crowdfunding campaign to raise £15,000 to get the book published.

David was 55 when he was diagnosed and Mrs Bent, from Millers Dale, near Bakewell, remembers it as a tough time.

"The diagnosis for all of us was horrific," she told BBC Radio Derby. "It came completely out of the blue - there wasn't any history of dementia in David's family.

"Certainly to be diagnosed so young came as a real shock."

David had decided to go to the GP initially because he was forgetting names of work colleagues as well as the location - despite having worked in Bakewell for 27 years.

A scan then revealed he had early onset dementia.

Mrs Bent said as his worsening condition had led to challenging behaviour - and once he had an idea fixed in his mind it was hard to shift it.

On one occasion she returned home from work to find he had used an angle grinder to cut through a wall to make space for a cupboard they did not need.

David enjoyed spending time with his grandchildren but as the years have passed it has been harder for him to play with them.

He now lives at a care home in nearby Darley Bridge. He does not recognise any of his family and when people talk to him he struggles to understand.

"The book really came out of my inability to find anything that I thought was helpful when I was talking to the girls about grandad and the things he struggled with," Mrs Bent said.

"It would be lovely to think that out of something so sad, something positive could come.

"I am a positive person and if we get the book published and get it out there it could be incredibly useful."

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