By Rebecca Lee
MY GRANDAD Michael Delaney, from Deansgrange, was a happy, bright man.
Whether it was fixing the plumbing in the house or predicting the results of Cheltenham he was always on the ball.
That all changed, however, in February 2014. The worry began when he started to lose his car keys and mixing up names of family members.
After numerous incidents, my parents brought my grandad to St Vincent’s Hospital. Following a series of endless tests, he was eventually diagnosed with Vascular Dementia at the age of 86.
VD is a condition that is related to Alzheimer’s disease and often sees more sudden impairment.
As the months passed we found grandad was getting increasingly forgetful and agitated. The most worrying incident of all was when he went walking at 2am one morning to find the local shop – alone and in the dark.
Another moment was when he forgot how to drive his car.
In February 2015 his dementia had progressed rapidly and my grandad, although he managed to keep a smile on his face, couldn’t remember his name or how to care for himself.
We enlisted the assistance of a public health nurse who applied for a home care package. After months of waiting we were finally awarded one hour of care each morning and one hour each evening from Monday to Friday through Home Instead.
We got together as a family, caring for him in three hour shifts in-between and paying for carers to stay with him at night.
Although this placed us under a lot of pressure we were lucky to be able to care for him like we did. We also attended talks at the Alzheimer’s Society in Blackrock who gave us great advice on how to deal with a very difficult, heart-breaking situation.
After months of being stuck on waiting lists and trips in and out of hospital it was finally decided that grandad should be assessed for a home. He never made it into one.
At the age of 88 my grandad passed away in St Michael’s Hospital on March 22. Ironically it was the day before he was finally due to be considered for proper fulltime care in a nursing home.
On October 17 my sisters Rachael (33) and Ruth (28) and I (31) will climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa to raise funds for The Alzheimer’s Society.
All funds raised from our 5,895 metre climb with Earth’s Edge will go towards helping families who are struggling to provide care and will go towards research. We’ve been in training for our climb since January and will remember the good times with grandad when we reach the summit.
The three of us have never done anything like this before and we only took up hiking nine months ago.
Admittedly we are nervous about taking on such a big challenge but we are finding more people are willing to support us and our fundraising efforts due to our experience with Alzheimer’s and the devastation it can cause.
While we anticipate the climb will be extremely difficult, with temperatures of minus 15 degrees in some parts and the onset of altitude sickness, we are hopeful the three of us will make it to the top and it will be truly emotional when we do.
If we can help other families going through the same heartache we experienced, all the blood, sweat and tears will be worth it.
If you would like to donate, please visit https://give.everydayhero.com/ie and search for the Lee sisters’ Alzheimer’s fundraising page.
