Formula 1 champion Jackie Stewart has opened up about caring for his wife Helen who has been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD).
The 86-year-old sportsman, who won three F1 championships and 27 Grand Prix victories throughout his career, has been married to his childhood sweetheart for more than 60 years.
Helen, now 84, was diagnosed with the degenerative brain condition in 2014 and, rather than place his wife in a care home, Stewart built accommodation next to their home so he could look after her himself.
“A few years ago I built a specially adapted apartment next to our house where she can be looked after by specialists,” he told The Times. “I’m fortunate I could afford that – I didn’t want her going into a home.”
Stewart, who runs the charity Race Against Dementia with his son Mark, said he was shocked by what he saw when he visited numerous care homes after setting up the organisation in 2016.
“Sometimes I came out in tears,” he said of his visits to the care facilities. “It’s a terrible illness and there’s no cure. My charity wants to change that so I’ve invested millions in research.”
It comes after a damning study revealed last month that dementia patients are being forced to wait two years for a diagnosis due to what a report from charity Care England described as a “government failure”.
Although there is currently no cure for dementia, early diagnosis can improve a patient’s life in a number of ways, including allowing access to treatments available on the NHS that can help manage symptoms.
These include medications such as Donepezil, rivastigmine, memantine and galantamine, cognitive stimulation therapy, cognitive rehabilitation and reminiscence work.
Back in April, Stewart told the BBC his wife’s condition, which impacts communication and behaviour, inspired him to fund a new blood test trial by the University of Cambridge, which hopes to detect signs of FTD decades before it develops.
Stewart said the behaviour and language changes he’d witnessed in his wife since her diagnosis in 2014 were “horrendous”. She “often” hits him and her care workers and uses language she’s “never ever said” in her life.
“Just the other day it was time for dinner, she’s getting up and I’m sitting close by, and she says, ‘Where’s Jackie?’” he said. “That’s the first time that’s happened and that’s only a few weeks ago.”
The F1 legend said the incident made a “bad feeling” come over him, adding Helen’s mind is now in a “new world”.
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