Fiona Phillips' parents both died from Alzheimer's – as she reveals own diagnosis
04.07.2023 - 21:37
/ ok.co.uk
Fiona Phillips recalled losing both her parents Amy and Phil to Alzheimer's disease just one year before receiving her own life-altering diagnosis.The GMTV Today presenter, 62, was speaking on This Morning with Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby at the time, explaining: "It's important for so many people but for me personally, both my mum and dad had Alzheimer's. "My mum started showing signs in her 50s, and my dad in his early 60s.
A lot of people think it is an inevitable disease almost that you get with ageing - it's not, there are about four diseases that contribute to what we call dementia. Alzheimer's is the most common one." Asked by Phillip, 61, who resigned from the show just recently, about her mum Amy's telltale signs pertaining to the neurological disease, Fiona went on to pinpoint one specific Christmas with her family.
"One of the big signs was at Christmas. I was actually four months pregnant and [husband Martin Frizell] and I went to stay with mum and dad, and I was going to tell them, it was all going to be wonderful.
"We got there and mum was really cold and there was no food in the house. It was so unusual and she was very cold and her eyes were dead, and she was crying all the time and dad was beside himself," she said.
"Little did we know he had it aswell but he was at an earlier stage, and then on Christmas morning there were really bizarre presents, like my youngest brother had sort of a really odd ladies jumper." As for when her dad Phil began showing symptoms relating to Alzheimer's, his TV star daughter told Phillip and Holly, 42: "[He] was found by the police because he was driving and even towards the end he was asking where his car was because he'd always, always driven. "He was driving
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