ITV presenter Richard Madeley, 65, has opened up about the poignant reason he became a patron for the Alzheimer’s Society. His mother Mary died of cancer while also battling Alzheimer’s disease, which influenced their final conversation before her death.
Madeley, who is hosting The Dementia Hero Awards 2021, revealed that his mother asked him to describe her own mother to her, as she “couldn’t picture her” in her final days. He recalled in an interview with Express.co.uk: “My mother, about 12 years ago now, she was in her early 80s then, but she began to get some strange symptoms. She was diagnosed on the same day as having both lung cancer, and Alzheimer’s.”
He added: “I remember her calling me up the day that she got the diagnosis. From the outset, I remember her saying two things. She said that she felt she had a good life, which was longer than she expected, and she specifically said that she hoped that it was the big C that would take her, and not the Alzheimer’s.”
Madeley detailed his final conversation with his mother on the day she died. He said: “She opened her eyes and croaked through very dry lips, she said, ‘Oh Richard, can you describe my mother to me?’ And I said ‘I never knew her, because she died in Canada when I was a baby but I've seen pictures of her, why?’ And she said, ‘because when I get up there, I can remember what my father looked like and Malcolm my brother, but I just can't picture my mother, and it will be so embarrassing not to recognise her’.”
Madeley described his mother’s simple Christian faith, which he said provided her comfort. He added: “Although she couldn't remember her mother, she could remember her very simple Christian faith, which sadly I don't share. And it was great that she still had that comfort when she went.”
The Dementia Hero Awards’ virtual ceremony will take place tomorrow at 7pm during Dementia Action Week 2021. Alongside Madeley, the awards will be presented by Society Ambassadors Angela Rippon CBE, Carey Mulligan and Sir Tony Robinson, and supporters Judy Finnigan and Anne-Marie Duff.
