A Dundee woman whose mother was diagnosed with dementia aged just 56 has appealed for more funding to research the debilitating condition.
Helen Leigh said dementia can only be defeated through further studies and has hit out at the level of investment pledged by the UK Government as being “not good enough.”
The teacher, who works at Mearns Academy in Laurencekirk, knows only too well the heartache dementia brings to a family after her mother Norma was diagnosed with the condition around five years ago. She said watching her mother gradually deteriorate at her home in Leeds as being “just awful.”
“My dad has had to give up his work so that he can be the full-time carer,” she said. “It’s terribly sad watching someone you love gradually being robbed of their memories and abilities. Words can’t describe how much I want a cure for this disease so that other people don’t have to suffer.”
Research funding into dementia, Mrs Leigh said, is “no where near enough.”
“When you look at the amount of money for cancer research compared with dementia there is a massive difference,” she said. “Alzheimer’s and all forms of dementia need a lot more money.”
A Dundee scientist echoed this view.
Professor David Balfour, a researcher at Dundee University and co-ordinator for Alzheimer’s Research UK Dundee research network, said, “Dementia researchers in Dundee and across the UK are making real progress, and with support from Alzheimer’s Research UK, scientists are making important breakthroughs. Dementia is not a normal part of ageing it is caused by brain diseases that we can beat but we need more investment in the research that will give us answers.”
The UK’s leading dementia research charity, the Alzheimer’s Research Trust, commissioned national YouGov polls of over 2000 people to mark its relaunch in Westminster this week as Alzheimer’s Research UK.
The charity is pleading with the public, government and the private sector to help end years of “pitifully low” investment.
Chief executive Rebecca Wood said, “Public concern around dementia is at an all-time high, yet dementia research is still the poor relation in both capacity and investment.”