Living With Alzheimer’s to air in January; more information about Alzheimer’s documentary

28 December 2008 (20:15) Alzheimer's Alzheimer's Documentary Interviews Films News Terry Pratchett News Archives

After hearing about the Alzheimer’s documentary (full title Terry Pratchett: Living With Alzheimer’s) off-and-on for almost a year, MedicalNewsToday.com has lots of information as to when the documentary will be aired and what it will contain.

The IWC Media-produced documentary will be aired in January on BBC Two, UK, as part of a documentary series focused on mental health called BBC Headroom.

Living With Alzheimer’s consists of two hour-long films:

The first film begins in early 2008 soon after Terry’s diagnosis. As he battles with tying his tie and struggles to cope at a public reading of his new book, he explicitly discusses his anger at being diagnosed with an illness for which there remains no cure. The film follows Terry as he tackles the disease head on, tries out some alternative treatments, and confronts leading scientists about how close they are to ‘the secret cure, bubbling in a cauldron.’

Surprised by how subtle the effects and symptoms of the disease actually are, Terry meets other people who share the same rare diagnosis as him, each at various stages along this ‘dark and unknowing path.’ He visits his specialist for tests, using mini mental state examinations to determine the severity of his condition and which parts of his brain are being affected the most. His PA, Rob is probed to reveal more about Terry than Terry might know himself - after all ‘this is the disease that hides itself even from the person who has it.’

In the second film, Terry contemplates his future and the difficulty of facing the inevitable ‘end game.’ Terry travels across the pond to learn, first hand, how Americans are dealing with the ‘tsunami of Alzheimer’s’ that is threatening their health care to find out if they are closer to beating the disease.

“If you’re diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s, you feel as though you’re standing on a beach and the tide has gone out and so has everybody else. There’s no one there.”

In LA, Terry meets the unlikely doctor who has recently come across a controversial new Alzheimer’s treatment which he claims produces remarkable results in minutes, and in New York State he meets one of the leading experts in PCA (Posterior Cortical Atrophy), Terry’s variant form of the illness.

He confronts his probable future by visiting a care home devoted to residents with dementia, whilst evaluating the difficult dilemma thousands of carers are faced with when dealing with a loved one who can’t look after themselves.