'Some days my mum me, on other days she recognises doesn't. It's heartbreaking' A relatively unknown disease has devastated Juliette Anderson's family. But friends on the internet have provided invaluable support, writes Greg Tindle.

Byline: Greg Tindle

JULIETTE Anderson was best friends with her mum Beverley.

They saw each other three times every day just to chat and catch up on family life with the talk often revolving around the grandchildren.

And youngsters were something that Beverley knew all about - working as a dinner lady at a local primary school helping to cook and supervising the youngsters, a job she carried out for six years.

But gradually Juliette, a mother of two, became worried about her mum.

Her behaviour was starting to get strange - she was forgetful and doing silly things like putting a piping hot meal straight into the fridge.

On another occasion Beverley, who was outwardly fit and healthy, suddenly turned off the car ignition while driving up the hill to her home in Cardiff, forcing her granddaughter to pull up the hand brake as the car rolled backward into traffic.

The alarm bells were starting to ring and Juliette's heartbreaking experience with her mum's mental deterioration has now gone around the world thanks to her page on the Facebook social networking website.

It has touched hundreds of others who also have experience of the condition, a rare form of dementia called Pick's Disease.

The disease, which still remains a mystery and is incurable, generally affects younger people aged from 30 to 60.

It results in the mental and physical demise of victims who within just a couple of years have plunged from being fit and active to a state where they cannot recognise even the closest members of their family.

This is exactly what has happened to Beverley, aged 62, who is now in St David's Hospital in Canton, Cardiff, virtually bed-bound, a stranger to family members and only able to feed on a diet of mashed food.

Juliette, 37, who is mum to Becky, 18, and Josh, 12, said: "The situation is so heartbreaking.

"We were so close but now some days she'll recognise me, other days she won't.

"It upsets the children so much to see their grandmother like this that they have stopped visiting.

"She is not the person they knew only a few years ago." Beverley's condition has affected Juliette to the point that she has also reduced her visits and it is only her husband Mark who has kept up the hospital routine with regular bedside vigils for his mother-in-law.

Juliette has been buoyed by the Facebook support she has received from across the world which has made her realise she's not alone in going through such trauma with a beloved parent.

She said the onset of Pick's Disease had probably started some time before her mum was finally diagnosed five years ago when she was 57.

Juliette, of Llanedeyrn, Cardiff said: "She'd be talking, as we did all the time, and then forget certain words.

"She would then be looking through her handbag and not realise she didn't know what she was searching for.

"She was becoming very forgetful.

"At first I put it down to stress and thought it was just her age but I got so worried I persuaded to her to go to the GP.

"One of the tests he did was asking if she could remember her date of birth.

She couldn't and started to cry.

"He referred her for hospital checks, and blood tests and a brain scan were carried out at the University Hospital of Wales.

"She was kept in and a couple of days later they told me it could be Pick's Disease.

"She was admitted and has never left hospital since.

"I was in the meetings with the doctors but mum couldn't understand why she was is hospital or that there was anything wrong with her." Beverley, who lived in Rumney, Cardiff, was soon referred on to Whitchurch Hospital, where she stayed for about two years but despite help from staff Juliette said her mum sank into depression and started taking it out on her, blaming Juliette for putting her into the hospital.

"I would visit her twice a day but mum would be crying and wouldn't get out of bed unless enticed with sweets and chocolate. She then started to get aggressive and almost attacked me, accusing me of getting her in this situation.

This was so unlike mum, she was a softie and I'd never seen this side of her." A short stint in a nursing home in Penarth followed but staff couldn't cope with Beverley's demands and high level of care. Finally two years ago Beverley was transferred to St David's Hospital, which cares for the frail elderly, many with dementia, but her condition has far from improved.

"Mum now has fits, she cannot eat without help and it's just heartrending to see someone who I was so close to, and so close to my children, now reduced to someone we barely know. It became very hard for me to see her, especially if I was with the children, as it was hard not to break down in front of them."

Almost 600 people worldwide have got in touch with Juliette's Facebook site spelling out similar stories of heartbreak - something that has given her and 39-year-old husband Mark some comfort.

"Maybe it's true what the doctor once said to us.

It's not the person with the illness that suffers, it's their loved ones watching them slowly change into someone they no longer know." Mark said: "I have watched Bev slowly change towards all the family.

What really hurts is that Bev was so active and now she can't even feed herself, or stand or walk properly. This has affected my children deeply. They will not visit her or talk about her illness.

"This is the worst possible nightmare for any family to face and the downside to it all is that we are all suffering in silence, and no-one can make it better."

as childlike.

Speech problems are common and range from reduction in the quantity or quality of speech in some to total loss of speech in others.

Understanding speech and writing is also affected.

Changes in eating habits include overeating and changes in dietary preferences, particularly for sweet foods, often causing weight gain. Excessive alcohol intake may occur.

In the later stages swallowing may become difficult with patients choking on food.

Attention difficulties such as sustaining a line of thought or maintaining a conversation for any length of time often occur.

Pick's Disease may be a rapidly progressive illness lasting between two to 10 years. The average length of illness is seven years.

It is named after Arnold Pick, a German neurologist, who described the condition in 1892.

For more information e-mail Karen Collins, the support officer in Cardiff for younger people with dementia for the Alzheimer's Society.

She can be contacted at karen.

[e-mail] or ring her on 029 2043 4965. Or e-mail Juliette on [e-mail]. The UK Pick's Disease Support Group website is at www.pdsg.org.uk Juliette Anderson, holding a picture of her mum Beverley with husband Mark and their children Becky and Joshua PICTURE: Peter Bolter [umlaut]

the progression of the disease, which accounts for five per cent of all dementia cases.

Personality changes include the patient losing their inhibitions, and they may become extrovert or withdrawn.

They may talk to strangers, make inappropriate remarks in public, and be rude or impatient.

The person may become aggressive, which may be quite out of character.

Their behaviour is often described

Pick's Disease is a progressive dementia usually starting between the ages of 50 and 60. It is caused by death or damage to brain cells.

It is characterised by changes in character and deterioration of intellect, memory and speech.

There are no drugs which can affect

WHAT IS PICK'S DISEASE?

CAPTION(S):

A picture of Beverley taken in happier times with her grandchildren Becky and Joshua