News

Fiona Phillips’ worry after revealing ‘awful’ Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis aged 62


Fiona Phillips smiling into the camera, wearing a black outfit

The GMTV star announced her diagnosis last year (Picture: David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images)

In an announcement, Martin Frizell has announced that he is stepping down from his role as editor of ITV programme This Morning after a decade at the broadcaster.

The news comes a year after Martin’s wife, TV star Fiona Phillips, shared that she had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

Fiona, now 63, is best-known for being one of the faces of GMTV, which she first started working on in the 1990s.

She met her now-husband Martin, 65, while she was on the programme, and the couple have now been married for almost 30 years.

Last year, Fiona opened up about her diagnosis, and the impact it’s had on the lives of her and her family.

When was Fiona Phillips diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease?

In July 2023, Fiona announced that she had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease aged 62.

Martin and Fiona have been married for almost three decades (Picture: Carl Fox/Rex/Shutterstock)

The journalist explained that she had received her diagnosis a year prior, as she explained that she was undergoing trials into a revolutionary treatment in the hopes of helping to find a cure.

‘I just hope I can help find a cure which might make things better for others in the future,’ she said at the time, having lost both of her parents to the ‘heartbreaking’ disease.

Fiona shared that she thought she might have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s when she was 80, but at the time of her diagnosis she was only 61 years old.

Both of Fiona’s parents were also diagnosed with Alzheimer’s (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

‘I felt more angry than anything else because this disease has already impacted my life in so many ways; my poor mum was crippled with it, then my dad, my grandparents, my uncle. It just keeps coming back for us,’ she said.

According to Alzheimers.org.uk, when a person develops dementia before the age of 65, this is known as young-onset dementia.

What is early-onset Alzheimer’s disease?

Early-onset Alzheimer’s is also known as young-onset dementia or younger-onset Alzheimer’s. It is the label given to anyone who receives a diagnosis before they turn 65.

According to Alzheimer’s Research UK, an estimated 70,800 people with dementia in the UK have young onset, and Alzheimer’s disease accounts for around one in three cases of young onset dementia. 

It is thought at least five in every 100 people with Alzheimer’s are under 65, however the figure may be higher.

According to the NHS, the symptoms of Alzheimer’s can begin with usually minor memory problems, but can develop into:

confusion, disorientation and getting lost in familiar places

difficulty planning or making decisions

problems with speech and language

problems moving around without assistance or performing self-care tasks

personality changes, such as becoming aggressive, demanding and suspicious of others

hallucinations (seeing or hearing things that are not there) and delusions (believing things that are untrue)

low mood or anxiety

Young-onset dementia, also known as early-onset dementia, often has different symptoms, even when it is caused …read more

Source:: Metro

      

(Visited 1 times, 1 visits today)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *