08/02/2026
🩵
‘As a nurse, I knew something was not right.'
Fran had been a nurse for nearly 40 years when she began to notice changes in herself.
‘My thinking was changing in a way that I couldn’t understand. My manager and friends put it down to different reasons, one being the stress from working in the NHS.
'I started to get words mixed up, and I kept losing things. I lost my wedding rings, my engagement ring. Left stuff behind in shops and would get off at the wrong bus/train stop. I got lost in Liverpool city centre where I've lived all my life.
'As a nurse I’d worked in specialist care units, intensive units, from paediatrics to cardiology.
‘I went to a training day which included a refresher on how to use a defibrillator. I knew a defib inside-out, but I just couldn’t remember how to use it. I burst out crying, I was so disorientated and felt really scared.
'I knew something was wrong, I spoke to my manager who was still not convinced. I didn't want anyone to come to harm. I was so scared of making a mistake and had to go home. I was referred to occupational health and went to see my GP.
'I had various investigations over 18 months, and was diagnosed with Vascular Brain Disease, but they wouldn't say I had dementia as I was too young. I was horrified because there was nothing they could do. I felt very alone and scared.
'I said that I really wanted a label because I knew in my heart and soul that I had dementia.
‘Then in 2020, I was also diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. In some ways it was a relief, because with the Alzheimer’s diagnosis I actually got a label.
'I thought “Thank goodness for that.” I knew then that I wasn’t imaging things. But I also knew that my life was going to change dramatically. I had to leave a job I had done for 40 years, my uniform was like my identity.
‘But I thought – I can either sit down and not get up again, or I can get up, get out there and do the best I can with what I’ve got.
‘Dementia isn’t the end. I've met so many lovely people who like myself were diagnosed younger and felt like there was no support there.
'Now I know there are things out there for you and if you go out and look for them, you’ll find them.'
