Former morning TV host and journalist Fiona Phillips has announced that she's been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. The 62-year-old, who was brought up in Pembrokeshire, was first diagnosed with the disease one year ago after suffering with brain fog and anxiety.
The mother-of-two and former GMTV host lost her mother, Amy, to the disease in 2006 and her dad, Phil, also passed away from the disease in 2012. She told The Mirror: "This disease has ravaged my family and now it has come for me. And all over the country there are people of all different ages whose lives are being affected by it - it’s heartbreaking. I just hope I can help find a cure which might make things better for others in the future."
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“It’s something I might have thought I’d get at 80”, she added. “But I was still only 61 years old. I felt more angry than anything else because this disease has already impacted my life in so many ways; my poor mum was crippled with it, then my dad, my grandparents, my uncle. It just keeps coming back for us.”
Fiona’s husband, This Morning editor Martin Frizell, 64, added: “Yes, tragically Fiona’s family has been riddled with it.”
Fiona has kept the diagnosis private for more than a year as she was 'worried' people would judge her. "It's a horrible bloody secret to divulge," she added. "There is still an issue with this disease that the public thinks of old people, bending over a stick, talking to themselves.
“But I’m still here, getting out and about, meeting friends for coffee, going for dinner with Martin and walking every day.”
Read the full interview with Fiona, here.
