Husband's plea: I'd take cancer over Alzheimer’s any day

By CHRISTIANE BARRO

There could be 900,000 Australians with dementia by 2050 if there is no significant medical breakthrough soon, experts say.

According to Alzheimer’s Australia, there are 353,800  people with dementia in Australia now, and that number is set to soar.

John Crutchfield has been married to Carmen for more than 52 years. He's seen her battle both bowel and breast cancer, but he says Alzheimer’s is a “totally different ballgame”.

“I would prefer her to have cancer, even if she had permanent cancer. I would much prefer that,” Mr Crutchfield says.

Alzheimer’s is much more disabling, he says.

When Ms Crutchfield was medically advised to stop driving, John recalled his wife saying: "You might as well kill me if I can’t drive."

“There’s no end to it. That’s what she’ll die of, it’s Alzheimer’s,” he says.

Alzheimer’s is just one of more than 130 different forms of dementia.

As part of Dementia Awareness Month this month, Alzheimer’s Australia conducted a survey that found a person with dementia is twice as likely to feel lonely and three times more likely to not have a friend to confide in or call for help.

Mr Crutchfield says many of his wife’s friends no longer keep in contact.

“A lot of people can’t handle it ... It was too hard for them,” he says.

Acting CEO of Alzheimer’s Australia Maree McCabe says this is because people don’t necessarily understand the complexity of the condition or how to behave around a person with dementia.

“This is not because people are deliberately unkind,” she says.

“The person living with dementia is the same person they have always been,” she says.

Ms Crutchfield was an active reader, went to the gym almost every day, did crosswords and ate all the right food, Mr Crutchfield says.

“She did all the things they say you need to do to keep your mind functioning properly,” he says. “I don’t think it made any difference.”

Mr Crutchfield is battling prostate cancer and found each chemotherapy session left him very fragile.

“It just got harder and harder and I was doing more and more,” he says.

So in May, Mr Crutchfield made the difficult decision to put his wife into full-time aged care.

Ms McCabe says Dementia Awareness Month is a crucial time to raise awareness and break down some of the myths around the disease.

Dementia is the second leading cause of death in Australia, affecting one in 13 people aged between 30 and 50, Alzheimer’s Australia found.

“It is often misunderstood and the general public have a limited understanding of the intricacies,” Ms McCabe says.

“In some cultures there is no word to describe dementia. Some view it as bad karma or cultural payback, rather than a disease of the brain,” she says.

Readers seeking support can contact the National Dementia Helpline on 1800 100 500.