Fiona Phillips has revealed she was scammed after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's.
The former GMTV presenter was told she had the illness a year ago after suffering months of brain fog and anxiety. The 62-year-old is now undergoing trials for a revolutionary new drug which scientists hope could slow or even reverse the illness for millions of sufferers in the years to come.
Fiona has told our sister site, Mirror Online, about how she is dealing with the symptoms of the condition. She is married to This Morning editor, Martin Frizell, who said he is concerned about the vulnerabilities that comes from suffering with Alzheimer's.
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He said: "Before I didn’t ever have to worry about Fiona before and now I do. ‘what is she doing all day while I’m at work? what is she doing in the evening if I’m out? what has she eaten?"
The struggles of living with the condition came to the fore recently when Fiona was scammed on the telephone by a fraudster who called and managed to siphon thousands out of her bank account. The bank refunded the money but this was a sign of the difficulties Alzheimer's can bring.
She said the disease has "ravaged" her family, after losing both her parents to Alzheimer's. Fiona hopes playing her part in new clinical trials will be a step towards defeating the illness. She said: "I am very positive about the trials - but I have to be. I want to try to make things better for people in the future who have this disease. And also I think now I have to talk about it openly.
"I have been reluctant to do it because I think people look at you in a different way if they think you have Alzheimer’s. But attitudes change. People used to only refer to ‘Cancer’ as the ‘Big C’ in hushed tones but that has all gone now - maybe it can be the same for Alzheimer’s.
"But most of all we have to find a cure or way of managing this terrible disease because it is crippling people - and crippling the health service. Care homes are full of people with it."
She added: "That’s why I want to do the trials. I can’t just lie down and accept it. Especially as I have already been through so much of it. I have to do something to help end this bloody awful disease."
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