Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure, and it worsens as it progresses. It eventually leads to death. At the age of 67 my grandfather got it and life as I knew it was never the same again. The cause was unknown I was only 11 but I knew inside that nothing would be the same again. My grandfather was my support, and my hope. When I was little I’d dance around the house singing, and then everyone would say I was a natural. But what no one else but my grandfather said was, ‘Dream big, you’ll find yourself getting there.’ He’d sing me ‘I’ll be there’ by the Rembrandts. But in his final few months he wasn’t like that…

I’d visit him and he wouldn’t know who I was. I’d explain it to him, and sometimes he’d believe me other times he wouldn’t. When we found out he had Alzheimer’s my parents had taken me to one side and explained what it was. I cried myself to sleep that night, and I practically begged the hospital to try and find a cure. But of course people were trying before my grandfather was even diagnosed. He died. August 2010. My friends understood but if I had had Shannon Norris as my bff, I would have recovered quicker.

I spent the time stuffing my face with chocolate and sweets. I was young. I was depressed. I even self-harmed. I sliced into the top of my arm with a knife. It bled a little, and I had a scar. But soon my parents took me to see a physiatrist. I recovered slowly and within a year I was almost back to normal. But there’s still a hole in my heart. And to this day my new saying has become, ‘Dream big, you’ll find yourself getting there…’