Sally Magnusson will be one of the first Scots to take tests to discover if she is at risk of developing the cruel Alzheimer’s disease which claimed her mother.
The respected BBC Scotland presenter, who was awarded an MBE in the last honour’s list for services to dementia, knows she may be at risk of the disease because the last years of her mother Mamie’s life were devastated by the illness.
In a new film she tells her mother’s story through a series of love letters, asking Mamie if she would approve of Sally taking the opportunity to learn whether she is silently developing the tell-tale damaging protein in her brain that is linked to Alzheimer’s.
Sally, 68, said: “Mum was a journalist. She began her career at The Sunday Post when she was just 17, covering hard news which was unusual for women in the industry at that time.
“Mamie had an impressive career. Words and music remained at the centre of her life. In the grips of dementia, when she found it hard to converse, she was still able to recite the limericks she used to make up and the songs she used to sing.
“Even during a difficult day, I only had to whisper a line to her, and she could sing and recall every word perfectly.”
‘It takes so much pleasure from a life’
Mamie, who was married to Mastermind’s Magnus Magnusson, was looked after by Sally and her two sisters, dying 12 years ago, at the age of 87.
Like many of the 90,000 Scots with Alzheimer’s, Mamie was in her 70s when the disease first took hold.
Sally said: “It’s a terrible disease because it takes so much pleasure from a life.
“By her early 70s mum was losing capacity. In those days very little could be done. I’m relieved things are changing now.”
Backing urged for Alzheimer’s drug that could help thousands
As a result of her experience with her mum, Sally wrote the Sunday Times bestseller Where Memories Go – Why Dementia Changes Everything.
She said: “The many letters I received brought home to me that dementia is one of the greatest social, medical, economic, scientific, philosophical and moral challenges of our times.”
Sally and Mamie are the focus of a new film, Alzheimer’s – A Cure And Me, in which the broadcaster explores the opportunities of new drugs to halt the progression of the disease in those at risk, decades before the first signs of dementia are even noticeable.
She said: “I feel very strongly that if we are ever to beat this disease, we need to have volunteers to research treatments earlier. Because as soon as once the symptoms appear, it’s almost too late.”
The film
In the film, Sally’s family help make up her mind to go for the tests which could show she has unseen symptoms.
She said: “There’s an awful lot of pain because of this disease. I want people who are struggling to know there is hope for the future from new drugs being developed.”
Bafta-winning Lorraine McKechnie, of Finestripe Productions who made the film, said: “Alzheimer’s touches almost every family in Scotland, but until now there has been little hope for the future. But that is changing.
“Through Sally’s unflinching honesty, this very personal film shows her family’s relationship with the disease that killed her mother as well as her call for urgent action before another generation must face this creeping blight on their family lives.”
BBC Scotland, Sunday, October 13, at 9pm and on BBC iPlayer
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