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Fiona Phillips Diagnosis: TV Host Reveals She Has Alzheimer’s Disease. She tells of her agony at being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s after it ravaged her family, but vows to fight on.
Fiona Phillips Diagnosis: TV Host Reveals She Has Alzheimer’s Disease
Fiona Phillips, a journalist and presenter, revealed her struggle with the disease that has decimated her family last night and has vowed to continue fighting. She has detailed the misery of being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
The 62-year-old remarked, “It’s something I might have thought I’d get at 80.”However, I was just 61 years old.
“I felt more enraged than anything else since this disease has already had such a profound impact on my life; first, my dad, then my dad’s parents, my grandparents, and my uncle were all disabled by it. It simply keeps returning to get us.
Insisting that she is “still here,” the former anchor of the breakfast television show continued, “This disease has ravaged my family and now it has come for me.”
And all over the country there are people of all different ages whose lives are being affected by it – it’s heartbreaking.
‘I just hope I can help find a cure which might make things better for others in the future.’
Fiona Williams pictured with her father, Neville, who died from the disease in 2012
After months of mental fog and anxiety, Ms. Phillips told the Mirror that she had learned about the fatal dementia condition that had claimed both of her parents’ lives around a year prior.
It is understood that she is undergoing a possibly ground-breaking experiment with a new medicine that it is hoped may help millions of people reverse or at least halt their sickness.
The diagnosis, according to the former GMTV host, was “heartbreaking,” and she continued, “It’s a b****y horrible” secret to share.
She is currently supported by her husband of 20 years, Martin Frizell, editor of TV’s This Morning. They wed in 1997. Tragically, Fiona’s family has been plagued by it (Alzheimer’s), he remarked.
They are the parents of Mackenzie, 21, and Nat, 24. The couple has not yet directly informed their children that their mother has Alzheimer’s.
The pair described how Ms. Phillips first noticed the beginning of her extreme anxiety, which she initially attributed to the Menopause.
But as HRT failed to alleviate symptoms like brain fog, she sought more testing, which led to an Alzheimer’s diagnosis.
Ms. Phillips described her diagnosis as a “total shock,” while Mr. Frizell said he “felt sick” at the time. The pair went to a local tavern where they now frequently drink.
Alzheimer’s also killed her mother Amy in 2006, after she began experiencing symptoms in her early 50s
Fiona Phillips pictured with husband Martin Frizell, who she married in 1997
Before departing the program, Ms. Phillips hosted GMTV for more than ten years (see photo of Ms. Phillips with Eamonn Holmes).
She is currently taking part in a drug study for Miridesap at University College Hospital in London, but it is impossible to tell if she is actually receiving the medication because half of the patients are receiving a placebo.
Her husband asserted that he thinks her condition is “stabilizing,” but he acknowledged that this may just be “wishful thinking.”
The family is attempting to maintain as much normalcy as they can elsewhere. However, the changes Ms. Phillips is going through have caused some considerable alterations.
She said she would no longer use transport such as the Tube as it would cause her too much anxiety. She is unable to drive and also has short memory lapses.
Ms Phillips has previously spoken about the deaths of both her parents from Alzheimer’s.
Her father Neville died in February 2012, while her mother Amy passed away with the disease in May 2006.
Ms Phillips has frequently spoken out about the disease and campaigned for Alzheimer’s Research UK.
