Trevor was a man with a memory so sharp it could rival the most advanced camera lens. Even at the ripe age of 70, he could effortlessly recall intricate details of his childhood. But as he reached his mid-seventies, those closest to him noticed a change in his behaviour.
"He couldn't remember things that had happened recently. And you could see he could not engage in conversations," his son Simon Mander recalls. "He was a very social man. But then he started to become a bit withdrawn and choose not to go to social events, which was really unlike him."
It wasn't long before Trevor decided to seek a checkup. He received the test results and was relieved to discover what was wrong.
"He kind of quite happily said to me, 'Well, we know what the problem is. I've got dementia'," Mr Mander says. "While he may have thought that receiving a diagnosis was a good thing, I knew that the journey ahead would be challenging, particularly for my mum."
Each week more than a thousand Australians are delivered the diagnosis of dementia, a disease that's incurable and terminal. Alzheimer's, which accounts for about 60–70 per cent of dementia cases, is not a disease that only affects memory, as many assume.
The disease works slowly, steadily disabling the person, impacting various cognitive processes, such as attention, judgment, and thought organisation, as well as emotions and personality. Loved ones watch from the sidelines, often heartbroken to see a once-vibrant parent or partner struggle to remember their birthdays or lose the wit and intelligence they once had.
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