A Lanarkshire graduate has spoken out on how early-onset Alzheimer's left her grandmother 'a shell of what she was' before the cruel disease took her life aged just 68.
Margaret Quinn was first diagnosed with the disease in 2011 when she was 59 years old. She passed away in 2021 after an arduous, 10-year battle with the disease.
Alzheimer's is the most common cause of dementia in the UK, according to the NHS. Dementia is the name for a group of symptoms associated with an ongoing decline of brain functioning. It can affect memory, thinking skills and other mental abilities.
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Margaret's granddaughter, Megan Tumilty, has opened up on the 'horrible' pain of watching the condition ravage her beloved nana.
The 23-year-old told Glasgow Live: “When my nana got diagnosed, I was still quite young. I didn’t even understand it could result in death.
"I just thought she’ll have it, she’ll forget wee things over time. But it hit home when we got in touch with Alzheimer Scotland.
“We didn’t know how severe it was until it affected us. As it got more advanced five years after her diagnosis, it was horrible when we came to the decision to put her in a care home.
"We were struggling, but you felt like you were giving up on her."
The Coatbridge graduate added: "The emotional side of my nana was so erratic, she’d be screaming one minute, crying the next and you just couldn’t comfort her at all. She needed round-the-clock care by professionals.
"Though we had her home for some of the pandemic, we hated having to put her back in the home and couldn’t see her during part of the Covid-19 pandemic. She deteriorated rapidly then.
"Thankfully we had her out for the last few months of her life, but she was a shell of what she was. It was shocking.
"She’d lost so much weight, couldn’t eat solid food, couldn’t speak or walk and had lost control of her bladder. Us being up every day had kept her active and kept her going but when we lost that she deteriorated faster.”
The tough times for Megan and her family made them appreciate the good times even more, as they are determined to remember Margaret as the 'glamorous' woman she was, as well as her love for Shania Twain.
Megan said: “She went to see Shania Twain in concert when she was quite advanced with Alzheimer’s. She struggled to walk, only small steps, she couldn’t talk, she couldn’t look or lift her head, but she loves Shania Twain.
“My mum and my papa took her to see her at the Hydro and she loved it. Even though she was so unwell she just loved going and hearing her.
"She loved listening to her throughout her full illness.
“She was always such a glamorous woman too. Everyone always said that she was always so well put together - her hair, her make-up, jewellery and always done up properly.
“Even when she worked as a janitor in the school, everyone used to always say she’s such a good-looking janitor."
On Saturday September 17, Megan and her boyfriend Jordan Pairman will walk a nine-mile route around the Coatbridge, inspired by Margaret’s life.
On the memory walk, Megan will stop in at all of Margaret’s homes, St Stephen’s Primary School, where she worked as a janitor, and other locations such as Coltswood Cemetery where she is buried. This will be Megan's sixth Memory Walk and she credits her nana as her “inspiration and motivation for completing the walk every year”.
She even used dementia as her dissertation subject, as she has been motivated by her nana's battle to make a difference. The University of the West of Scotland (UWS) graduate completed her Social Sciences degree with a dissertation entitled ‘The Societal and Medical Misconceptions Towards Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease’.
Megan is keen to encourage others to get involved with the Memory Walk, reiterating the help Alzheimer Scotland provided her and her family in understanding Margaret’s dementia.
She commented: “It’s such an important charity to raise money for and everyone who knows me well knows how important it is to me and how much I go on about it because you don’t realise how serious it can be. Even though it was a horrible experience for the full family, it was something we’re not glad to have been through, but glad we could’ve been there.
"We understood it better and we were there for my nana in the right way, the way she actually needed someone. You knew how to do music therapy, sit there and hold her hand, talk even though she wasn’t responding and we’re glad we at least had those moments with her.
“Whereas, something so sudden you wouldn’t have had that.”
You can support Megan's memory walk by donating here.
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