'˜You can still live positively with dementia if you learn to adapt' says Wendy who was diagnosed with the condition at 58.

People often think that a diagnosis of dementia is the end.

I’m here to show you that it can be the beginning of a new journey; a journey of adapting. If thought of like this, it can be filled with laughter and new opportunities which can in turn help with the daily struggles we have to face.

On July 31, 2014, I was given the devastating diagnosis of Young Onset Dementia.

At the time I was living happily alone in York. I was 58, otherwise healthy and working full time in the NHS at St James’s Hospital in Leeds as a non-clinical team leader.

Although it was truly shocking to hear such news, it was also, bizarrely, a relief.

When you’re experiencing strange symptoms your mind works overtime drumming up possible causes.

It wasn’t until I did a series of in-depth memory tests that dementia was mentioned in passing as a possible cause.

So when I had the memory tests redone a year later, they were quite conclusive and were supported by an abnormal SPECT scan.

It was then I realised that dementia doesn’t discriminate. No matter what your sex, intelligence or background, it can strike when you least expect it, at any age.

At least a diagnosis put an end to all the ‘ifs’, ‘buts’ and ‘maybes’ and I could start to plan for the future.

People often ask me ‘what’s it feel like to have dementia’?

You have good days and bad. Most of my days at present are fair to middling, but on bad days, it’s like a fog descends on the brain.

During these days I have to work really hard at remembering the day of the week.

This feeling I can liken to the process of untangling a necklace.

If you’re feeling calm, you sit there patiently and untangle the knots one by one which allows you to work out the reality of the day.

But on bad days, it’s like when you’re feeling impatient with the necklace – the more you try and untangle the more knotted it becomes.

My way of dealing with these moments is to tell myself it’s not me, it’s the dementia. And the fog will clear eventually. So I’ll just sit quietly and wait.

However – that’s my experience – we always say that when you meet one person with dementia, you’ve simply met one person with dementia. We all have different experiences.

Despite how my life has changed over the past year, I try my best to remain a very positive person.

For me a diagnosis means adapting to the challenges thrown at me.

You can still live positively if you accept that changes need to be made to compensate  for the bits of your brain no longer working as they did and continue to adapt as the disease throws up more challenges to solve.

We all had talents before dementia, we don’t suddenly lose all those talents overnight when we get a diagnosis.

It’s often a case of finding new ways to use those talents.

I write a daily blog called, www.whichmeamitoday.wordpress.com which acts as my memory for all the things I’ve done.

I can type as though dementia has never entered my world. I can type words quicker than I can think and speak them, because that part of my brain appears to be unaffected, thankfully.

If I didn’t have my blog, all the wonderful events I attend, thoughts and feelings would be lost.

My life is busier than when I worked. I call all the involvement in the things I do my ‘Sudoku’ – they all help keep my brain ticking over. If you don’t use it you lose it – even more so with dementia.”

I made the mistake of giving myself three weeks off over Christmas, thinking it would be good for me. However, I couldn’t have been more wrong. When I came to start typing again, I’d forgotten how; I’d forgotten what to do with the keyboard. So now I try not to stop doing things, because I know if I do, I’ll forget and may not be so lucky next time in being able to start again.

I used to be a very private person, but I was so appalled at the lack of awareness and lack of understanding about dementia that I now shout from the rooftops at every opportunity simply to get people talking about dementia.

Dementia is about so much more than memory as many of our senses can be affected. The knack is not letting the dementia beat you.

I often think of myself as lucky to live alone. It sounds bizarre, I know, but living on your own means that there’s no one there to move things around. Because if you move something, to me, it no longer exists.

I have to find new ways of adapting and coping with the daily challenges dementia throws at me.

Having said that, I also couldn’t do without the help and support of my two wonderful daughters.

So what’s my next adventure? Well I’m lucky enough now to be writing a book with a ghost writer about my experience, which is due to be published in January next year – another wonderful opportunity that a diagnosis has brought me.

Finally I thought I’d end this article by telling you about the advantages of living with dementia. What can possibly be seen as an advantage of living with dementia? I can hear you all thinking…

Well, as I hope you’ve all gathered, I’m a very positive person and so like to turn negative experiences into positives because that helps me to cope better.

I’ve had some wonderful opportunities since being diagnosed, ranging from having a cup of tea with Julianne Moore at the premiere of Still Alice in London, to speaking in the House of Commons.

But the biggest advantage for me revolves around the Great British Bake Off. It’s my favourite programme. People often talk about the sadness they feel when the series is coming to an end – knowing that it will be months before it’s on our screen again.

Well I can just start watching it all over again as I can’t remember who won or who got turfed out each week – so I’m never without Bake Off.

Remember, dementia might be terminal but then so is life, so why not make the most of each day and take every opportunity that comes your way?

To read more about Wendy Mitchell visit whichmeamitoday.wordpress.com

WEndy Mitchell is a champion for Join Dementia Research.

Join Dementia Research is a partnership between the National Institute for Health Research, Alzheimer Scotland, Alzheimer’s Research UK and the Alzheimer’s Society. It is an initiative which allows people to register their interest in participating in dementia research and be matched to suitable studies. Join Dementia Research Champions are a group of people from around the UK, with and without memory problems, who care about dementia research, and want to play a role in accelerating its progress. They have volunteered to raise awareness of the importance of clinical research