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A BBC2 (UK) programme entitled Terry Pratchett: Living With Alzheimer's will be broadcast in January 2009, exact dates to be confirmed, as part of the BBC Headroom series that examines mental health and wellbeing.
Bestselling author, Terry Pratchett, is 60 years old and has recently
been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's disease - but he's not
going to take it lying down. He wants Alzheimer's to be sorry that it
ever caught him.
Having sold almost 60 million books worldwide, Terry is a man whose
imagination is in constant overdrive. The prospect of living without
memories or words frightens him.
"I used to be a high speed touch typist. I laughed in the face of the
spell checker. But then one day last year, it all started to go wrong."
The first film begins in early 2008 soon after Terry's diagnosis. As he
battles with tying his tie and struggles to cope at a public reading of
his new book, he explicitly discusses his anger at being diagnosed with
an illness for which there remains no cure. The film follows Terry as
he tackles the disease head on, tries out some alternative treatments,
and confronts leading scientists about how close they are to 'the
secret cure, bubbling in a cauldron.'
Surprised by how subtle the effects and symptoms of the disease
actually are, Terry meets other people who share the same rare
diagnosis as him, each at various stages along this 'dark and unknowing
path.' He visits his specialist for tests, using mini mental state
examinations to determine the severity of his condition and which parts
of his brain are being affected the most. His PA, Rob is probed to
reveal more about Terry than Terry might know himself - after all 'this
is the disease that hides itself even from the person who has it.'
In the second film, Terry contemplates his future and the difficulty of
facing the inevitable 'end game.' Terry travels across the pond to
learn, first hand, how Americans are dealing with the 'tsunami of
Alzheimer's' that is threatening their health care to find out if they
are closer to beating the disease.
"If you're diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's, you feel as though
you're standing on a beach and the tide has gone out and so has
everybody else. There's no one there."
In LA, Terry meets the unlikely doctor who has recently come across a
controversial new Alzheimer's treatment which he claims produces
remarkable results in minutes, and in New York State he meets one of
the leading experts in PCA (Posterior Cortical Atrophy), Terry's
variant form of the illness.
He confronts his probable future by visiting a care home devoted to
residents with dementia, whilst evaluating the difficult dilemma
thousands of carers are faced with when dealing with a loved one who
can't look after themselves.
Passionately determined to 'name the demon' and rid patients
of the shame and stigma attached to this illness, Terry's desire is to
find a treatment, if not a cure, which will allow him to carry on
writing for as long as possible - he doesn't have any time to waste.
Source: www.medicalnewstoday.com
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