Words of


It was a sledgehammer. I felt so sorry for the doctor, telling a young woman of 52 that she had this terrible diagnosis. My mum was with me at the time - we put our arms around each other and said, “Look we’ll get on with this”, and we have done ever since.


Ann Johnson was rocked by the diagnosis of dementia at a tragically young age, but she did not buckle. Instead, with a steely determination, she refused to accept that the condition would beat her and set about finding ways to continue to live life with the zest and enthusiasm she always had.


And in improving her own life, she also wanted to improve the lives of others with the condition, by educating carers and the public at large about the effects of dementia. This cause has led to her


addressing care homes, conferences and even millions of people on television and radio, to help us understand the difficulties she and thousands of others with the condition face.


But let’s start at the beginning of the story; the early signs of dementia that first raised alarm bells with Ann, who knew all too well the symptoms of the condition having previously supported people with it during her decades as a nurse, and also seen her own father develop early-onset dementia.


12 | You First | www.c-i-c.co.uk The diagnosis


“At first I was forgetting little things, like taking my medication”, Ann explains. “But then other things happened – I’d get lost, forget words. My father had this at a young age as well, and things that had happened to him were happening to me too.”


It took Ann a year to find the courage to visit the doctor and confront head on that she might have the condition she so dreaded. “You have to accept that your


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