Today is mums birthday, we had to remind her. She’s already forgotten the family meal on Saturday.

It’s been a years since mums official diagnosis and meeting with the consultant, but dementia has been in our lives for a couple of years now.

Dementia affects the whole family, friends and the person with this cruel disease that robs memories, moments and is taking away our mum day by day.

Mum is generally in a pleasantly confused stage now, but we see step declines every few weeks. She attends a dementia day care centre 3 days a week, had a lovely carer Lou and daily visits from family.

Daily routines, technology, newspapers, day, date & time are all a mystery to mum. She does love the speaking clock, but at £200 a month in phone bills we had to intervene!

It’s hard to describe as no two people have the same dementia journey. But I’ll have a bash in this poem:

Your face once familiar, now a stranger to me

Memories fading, lost like leaves on the breeze

Time steals moments, robs us of our past

And I watch as you slip away, fading fast

The mum I knew, so full of life and light

Now shrouded in confusion and the night

Your words are jumbled, your thoughts unclear

And I ache with the knowledge that you’re no longer near

The pain of watching you slip away

Is a burden I carry every day

I see you struggling, trying to find your way

Through a maze of thoughts that lead astray

And yet, in moments of clarity, a glimmer of hope

A flicker of recognition, a memory we can hold

We laugh and smile, as we recall days of old

And I cherish these moments more than gold

Dementia has taken you from us

But we hold onto the love that will always be

You’re still our mum, no matter what comes to be

And we’ll stand by your side, eternally.