A BELOVED dad who suffered from dementia before his death has inspired a memory walk to raise funds for others battling the disease in the hope a cure can be found.
Doug Jackson, 81, of Bevere, near Worcester suffered from both Lewy body dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease before his death.
The former mechanic, costing engineer and draughtsman died on October 8, 2021, having only been diagnosed the year before but continues to be a source of inspiration to his family.
In the last year, there have been two new drugs, lecanemab and donanemab, which can slow down the decline in memory and thinking skills of people living with early Alzheimer’s Disease, providing new hope that a cure will be found.
The latest figures show there are over 9,900 people living with dementia in Worcestershire alone, over 84,000 across the West Midlands and around 900,000 across the UK.
His daughter Kay Brearley and her husband, Lee Brearley, both 57, of Lavender Road, Worcester are planning another Memory Walk in Worcester this year on September 30 in support of the Alzheimer’s Society along with an additional walk in Ludlow on October 8, the second anniversary of his death.
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The Worcester five-mile walk will start at 10am at the Pitchcroft car park by the Pump House, heading along the river to Diglis Bridge and back along the river to the Pump House.
The family hope it will build on a successful walk last year which had about 50 people involved and raised a total of £2,656 for the fight against Alzheimer’s.
Mr Jackson was born in Mill Street, Ludlow on September 14, 1939, educated at Ludlow Grammar school and initially worked for the MEB as a draughtsman but in 1961 he was called up for National Service and was posted to Tripoli. Whilst there he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and was medically discharged.
Mr Jackson returned to Ludlow and started work in the drawing office at Richard Lloyds in Tenbury where he met Molly, his future wife, marrying her in 1964.
He then moved to McConnel Ltd in Ludlow where he was employed for over 40 years as a Costing Engineer and received his Long Service Medal.
Throughout his life he had a passion for motorbikes and set up a journalist business, The Worlds Motorcycle News Agency. He wrote for various magazines around the world detailing new bikes and became 'a well known figure at motorcycle shows around the world'.
His family said: "Doug was unique in personality. He was intelligent, creative, loyal, passionate, a bit of a worrier, funny and a joker….though some of his jokes were a little suspect.
"Doug began to realise something was wrong, he became confused and forgetful and for a man who had used his brain all his life, this was very frustrating for him and he was frightened.
"He declined quite rapidly after diagnosis both physically and mentally and we managed to get Doug and Molly moved to Worcester so we could look after him and support Molly more closely.
"In relation to the effect of Doug’s illness on our family, it meant that Molly became his full time carer and he soon became unable to carry out the simplest of tasks and began hallucinating and shaking. He eventually was admitted to hospital on September 19, 2021 and was transferred to Latimer Court Care Home on October 7 and passed away the following day.
"The effect of Doug’s illness on the family was extensive and still is.
"Initially we felt scared and isolated upon first his diagnosis. None of us had experienced this illness before. There were mixed emotions of sadness, anger and frustration.
"The hardest thing was seeing Doug sat in the chair but it wasn’t really him. It is terrible to watch this disease slowly destroy a person both physically and mentally. The person we knew was quickly vanishing and we were powerless to do anything about it.
"The medications he was prescribed adversely affected him and overall we felt very lonely however the Early Intervention Dementia Team at Kidderminster were amazing and gave us lots of support and direction."
Those who wish to support the family can do so by visiting https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/memorywalkoyo23-kaybrearley
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