The Alzheimer’s Society had contacted me and asked if I would like to talk to a national woman’s magazine about Paul’s Alzheimer’s and the fact he was so young & it’s effects on us, well I did say I wanted to try and raise awareness so maybe this could be my chance. Bring it on I thought! The interview date was set up with the national magazine and I had to sign a contract that I would not repeat the story to any other newspaper or magazine outlet for 21 days, The interview was to be over the phone and for roughly 35 to 45 minutes. She seemed such a lovely journalist on the other end, very chatty & open about her life and was asking me about how I met Paul, has Paul been depressed lately, did we argue due to my frustration of Paul’s lack of memory, was I still as happy as I used to be now knowing Paul’s condition, I thought to myself what funny questions to ask me….. and I thought I was very careful with my answers. I was also trying to get into the story my passion to raise awareness about alzheimers in younger people and trying to mention the up & coming 2015 autumn memory walks around the country which is the flagship of the society! There had been a few emails backwards and forwards from the national magazine & I had to send them some photographs of us both and all emails were all titled in the title subject bar ‘my hubby has Alzheimer’s at just 54 years old’. So I obviously stupidly assumed that was going to be the title of the article in the magazine. On the day of publication I couldn’t wait to go and get my copy! I stood in the local newsagents found the magazine flicked through it until I found the page with my face & our story, I froze as I read the headline DIDN’T MY HUSBAND LOVE ME ANYMORE? By Tracey Seymour
Oh God what had I done, or actually more to the point what the hell have they done with my story! Yes they sort of were my words but they were sensationalised and the whole story was made to look as if there was something wrong with our marriage & Paul! No mention of Paul’s alzheimer’s. It was only when you got to the last paragraph that the story read that Paul had recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Well if I was going to continue with my quest to raise awareness publicly on a large scale I had had my first lesson and a hard lesson it had been at my expense!
traceyseymour.com 