Well I Know Now with Pippa Kelly

Suzy Webster is very special. She’s a mother, daughter, wife, and for many years carer to her mum, Barbara. In 2012, after Barbara developed dementia, she and Suzy’s dad, Gordon, came to live with Suzy and her family in Chepstow.  When I first met Suzy over a decade ago, I was struck by her quiet determination, her love for her family and her wonderful way with words.  I c...

Kitty Norton describes herself as a former “just about everything – from non-profits arts administrator to cabaret performer to post-production professional to crappiest daughter of the year award-winner for more than forty years”.  She forfeited that last accolade when, six years after her mum was diagnosed with vascular dementia, and following the sudden death of her dad, she gave up her jo...

This episode is dedicated to Tony Husband, who appeared on my show not once, but twice – which, in itself, is testament to the man’s generosity of spirit and dedication to raising awareness of dementia.   After Tony and I had recorded our first podcast, I said that, for me, Tony was all about creativity, humour and love, and I’d stand by that.   “Life,” Tony once said, “is abou...

Wendy Mitchell is quite simply one of the most impressive people I have ever met. Diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease nine years ago at the age of 58, after an initial slump into depression, Wendy has since devoted her time and precious energy to raising awareness of dementia, frequently appearing on our broadcast media – she’s a familiar face on the Breakfast Time sofas – and speaking at majo...

My two guests this week are passionate about improving life for people living with dementia, particularly through the education and training of those who support and care for them.  Dr Keith Oliver is an expert by experience – 13 years’ experience, having been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2010, aged just 55 and forced to retire after 33 years in teaching, latterly as a headteacher. Prof...

I am sure that many people listening to my podcasts will be aware of two ground-breaking medical breakthroughs that have occurred in recent months. These are the immunotherapy drugs Lecanemab and Donanemab, which is shown to have slowed the decline in memory and cognition of people with early stage Alzheimer’s disease by up to 40pc.  These drugs do not, like others before them, merely ma...

In her native America, Lori La Bey has been recognised for her tireless work to improve the lives of those with dementia through creating, discovering and making accessible a wide range of resources. She has been hailed as a Health Hero by none other than Oprah Winfrey and championed as an Architect for Change by the former First Lady of California, Maria Shriver. Since walking away from a su...

In this podcast I talk to two women who, in their different yet linked ways, have grown to appreciate the importance of identity, purpose and togetherness.  The common theme isn’t dementia but being the partners of military men – though never fear, dementia plays quite a part in our discussions as you will hear.  Heather Sharp and her husband were both serving in the Army when, afte...

Susie Singer Carter spent her childhood as a gymnast, an entrepreneur (selling her toys door-to-door), debate champion, party planner, flag twirler and cheerleader, while surviving her parents’ divorce and her father’s untimely death in a plane crash. While studying journalism at UCLA, she hosted a radio show, modelled and sang in a pop group produced by Chuck Lorre. After college, she opened a ha...

I first met professional cellist Dr Claire Garabedian at a wonderful musical evening where three internationally renowned opera singers performed a piece written for audiences of older people and those with dementia. She spoke then of the powerful communication – the dialogue, conversation, connection – between the performers and audience members. It seems to me that throughout her extraordin...

Kate Lee, the chief executive of the Alzheimer’s Society, describes herself as a good Yorkshire girl, “What you see is what you get”. I last interviewed her in the dark days of December 2020 as people living with dementia in care homes became virtual prisoners, their relatives only allowed to see them through windows. Most of those with dementia, who account for over 70pc of care home residen...

Jean Lee is a retired American teacher from Ohio who, like me, is an Alzheimer’s Daughter. However, in Jean's case, both parents were diagnosed with dementia. And – and this is quite extraordinary – they were both diagnosed on the same day.  Jean is also, like me, a writer, and after her parents died she penned a memoir of her mum and dad, of their deep, lifelong love for each other...

My guests today are Chris Maddocks and Rachel Thompson, two women who both know a lot about Lewy Body Dementia.  Chris was diagnosed with vascular dementia six years ago at the age of 60. At the time she viewed it as a death sentence, but the Alzheimer’s Society saved her and when she became one of their ambassadors, she discovered hope and a renewed sense of purpose.  Rachel is an...

I first interviewed Professor Sube Banerjee on my podcast in November 2020, when unbeknown to us, we were about to have our Christmas celebrations ambushed by Covid. Our chat was stimulating, thought-provoking, energetic and creative. It was also full of hope, just like him. In fact, I gave the podcast the title, The Professor of Hope, which many listeners loved.  Sube Banerjee...

Sage House is a dementia hub in Tangmere, West Sussex. Said to be the first of its kind in the UK, the hub is located in a light, airy building of dementia-friendly coloured zones, wide passageways, Daisy’s café and numerous meeting rooms for everything from legal advice on drawing up wills and powers of attorney to hairdressing, from Citizens Advice Bureau sessions and dementia assessment cl...

When Dame Barbara Windsor died in the dark Covid days of December 2020 the nation mourned the loss of not just an immensely talented and likeable actress, but a friend. We felt we knew this pocket dynamo, through her countless appearances, from her early days in the Carry On films to her later role as Peggy Mitchell in Eastenders, which she played for 20 years.  We didn’t really know her...

When I last interviewed today’s guest for this podcast it was the summer of 2020 and we were cautiously emerging from our first lockdown.  Back then, in July 2020, I said that I admired this young mum from Chepstow for her understated determination, her strength of character and her obvious love for her family. Two difficult years on those words are truer than ever.  Suzy Webst...

Older people, says geriatrician Dr Lucy Pollock, are interesting. They are also boring, good-humoured, bad-tempered, serene, irritable, amusing, grouchy, selfish, generous, happy-go-lucky and nervy. “Older people are just all of us grown up”. Of course they are – so why can’t we all see that? It is in order to open up the conversation around old age, something we all reach if we are...

This week I was delighted to welcome, not one, but four Well I Know Now guests. I thought it was important to talk to them all as they each play vital roles in a Folkestone-based company that works with older people and their families to improve their wellbeing. Plan with Care, launched in 2018, is the brainchild of Chris Gage, a social entrepreneur with a passion to improve quality in care, and h...

Matthew Seager’s play, In Other Words, distils dementia – what it is to have it, what it is to watch someone you love being lost to it – into just 75 minutes, pulling its audience into the emotional turmoil that unfailingly accompanies this cruel condition.  Matthew told me that he’d been inspired to write it after visiting a dementia care home during his drama studies at Leeds university.&nb...

“Change your life with an Open University qualification” boasts the OU website. And this week’s guest, author and dementia campaigner Gina Awad, did exactly that – though actually she changed not just her life but many hundreds, possibly thousands, of lives. For it was through a health and social care degree in 2011, at the age of 41, that she first became interested in dementia. Since t...

Ian Kremer has worked for over 25 years on his country’s dementia policies. A member of both the Virginia State Bar and the American Bar Association, he was a director of the Alzheimer’s Association focussing on state and local policy in Virginia, Maryland and the district of Columbia for 16 years before moving to head up the Washington DC-based Lead Coalition in 2012 – LEAD, L-E-A-D, stands...

Niamh Condon has long believed that food is far more than fuel for the body. Coming from a large Irish family, she’s always loved to cook and has known from a young age that sitting down for a meal together brings people close, it connects them and warms them, it comforts them, it nurtures relationships and binds societies. Having worked in the catering industry for over 20 years, in 2014 Nia...

Ifirst encountered Beth Britton in 2013 at the Independent Age Awards, where she was named Best Independent Voice on older people’s issues. I was one of those shortlisted alongside her and it was at the ceremony in central London that I first heard this young woman’s incredible story, of how her dairy farmer father had developed vascular dementia when she was 12 and how his condition, with wh...

Sir Tony Robinson is a highly regarded actor whose family come from the Eastend of London, he’s also a presenter, writer, author, historian, political activist and charity ambassador – often taking on roles that combine his many talents, and earning himself a Knighthood in the process. Not bad for a man best known for playing a witless fool forever coming up with cunning plans doomed to failu...