The birth of Dementia Awareness Day D.A.D September 17th 2011.
Diagnosed with young onset Alzheimer's disease at the age of 50 Norman thought his world had come to an end. His condition deteriorated until he was hardly able to speak or walk. Now at the age of 54 Norrms as he likes to be called, regularly addresses groups of people about his illness, has written 2 books which have been published and is an avid subscriber on facebook. He suggests that the turn around in his condition was due to medication called Ebixa. Norrms is Bolton born and bred but now lives in Torquay where he says the weather is better but he does miss the pies!
He has written prolifically about his illness giving carers and others an insight into how the disease affects people and how it impacts on carers and other family members.
When he received his diagnosis he states he was absolutely
devastated but intended to fight as long as he could. He equates dementia to a fully lit Christmas tree - as each light goes out a memory or a skill is lost never to return. He has known people have cancer and survive, brain tumours and survive but to date he knows of no one who has survived dementia.
Early in 2011 Norrms wrote a story about the night sky. Looking up at the stars he noticed how brightly the stars appeared that night. He realised that the darker the sky the brighter the stars shone. He related this observation to his own Alzheimer's and considered that each star represented a light of hope for each person touched by dementia and the hope that one day a cure would come.He started making plans for a Dementia awareness day to coincide with his 54th birthday on September 17th. Using the star as inspiration the event reached international proportions with Europe and America also taking part. Over 15000 people voiced their support.
One of our Group's grandson, Scott designed a poster for D.A. D day using the star as inspiration. Picture shows Norrms and Scott with the winning poster.
The event started with a display of information and advice in Bolton's Market Place sponsored by Bolton LiNKS. Where a choir of people with dementia and their carers entertained the crowds. There was also a display at the Reebok Stadium before Bolton's match against Norwich City followed by a symbolic release of star shaped balloons on the pitch before the match. On Sunday 18th September all the churches in Bolton were asked to light a candle and to pray for all those affected by dementia.
