'Dementia is the greatest medical challenge of this century'

These are just some of the words used to describe how it feels to care for a loved one with dementia.

Although it costs the country £23 billion per year, more than cancer and heart disease combined, dementia receives a fraction of the funding, according to a new report.

For every pound spent on dementia studies, £12 is spent on investigating cancer and £3 on heart disease.

And the number of sufferers, 822,000, is also 17 per cent higher than has previously been estimated, and looks set to pass the million mark before 2025.

Rebecca Wood, chief executive of the Alzheimer’s Research Trust, called for greater resources to fight the condition saying: “The true impact of dementia has been ignored for too long.

“The UK’s dementia crisis is worse than we feared. This report shows that dementia is the greatest medical challenge of this century.”

The actor and TV presenter Tony Robinson recently reviewed a new book by Poole-based company BMA Family Doctor Books about Alzheimer’s disease, and was in his late 40s when his father Leslie started becoming forgetful and depressed.

“I didn’t know they were the first signs of Alzheimer’s, and told him to cheer up, “says Tony, 63. “Nobody knew anything about the disease in the 80s, including our GP.”

His mother Phyllis was diagnosed with dementia several years later and she went into a care home until her death at 89.

“One minute she would be chatting to me, and then she wasn’t listening anymore. I would tease her about being away with the fairies, and she’d break into a huge smile and be back with me again.

“I do worry about dementia and watch for signs. Every time I can’t remember something or forget where I’m going while driving I get an unnerving twinge.”

Jackie Sherfield, 66, cares for her husband John, 64, who has vascular dementia, at their home in Bridport. She says one of the ways they manage to find solace is through music.

They attend Singing for the Brain classes, part of a joint project run by Bournemouth and Poole NHS Trust and the Alzheimer’s Society.

“He goes from someone who has little to say in company to someone who sings his heart out for a couple of hours,” says Jackie.

“He has always loved music, and it’s wonderful because it’s an activity we can both participate in. When I seem him sing, he’s like the old rocker I used to know.”

Mental health nurse Diana Rickard Saggs runs a class at the Westcliff Baptist Church in Westbourne, Bournemouth. She says our memory of music is the last part of the brain to be affected by dementia.

“It’s not just about helping people with dementia – it’s also nice for their carers to see their loved ones get their sparkle back. I have seen people who have lost their ability to communicate come alive when they start to sing.”

But she felt it was time people realised that dementia is not just something that happens to old people.

“It’s now at the stage when nearly everybody will know somebody who has dementia and although people like Sir Terry Pratchett has helped to raise greater awareness – we still have a long way to go.”