AN ALZHEIMER’S charity is launching its biggest ever campaign to help combat the disease as local experts warned it was one of the greatest “challenges facing our county”.

Alzheimer’s Research UK will launch a month-long campaign of TV adverts to raise awareness about the disease to help raise funds to find new ways of combatting the condition.

More than 8,000 people in Oxfordshire are affected by the disease, which causes a loss of brain function.

Oxford Mail:

Marianne Talbot

Marianne Talbot, who cared for her parents when they suffered from dementia, is the charity’s Oxfordshire champion and is backing the campaign.

The Headington resident’s father Philip died in 2000 aged 84 after battling vascular dementia for four years.

Ms Talbot, director of studies in philosophy for further education at Oxford University, added her mother Lesley “lost 10 years of her life”

when she was diagnosed with dementia in 1999.

The 59-year-old said: “On my mum’s 70th birthday she completed a degree in English from Manchester University.

“She was an incredibly active woman and was able to put her mind to new challenges.

Seeing her deteriorate was incredibly tough.

“She was previously an English examiner, and to see her lose the ability to use her own language was heartbreaking.”

Ms Talbot took care of her mother, who previously lived in a suburb of Manchester, until the disease progressed to the extent that she required full-time care. She was moved to a care home in Headington, where was passed away in 2009.

Ms Talbot added: “It is one of the biggest issues facing our county, with thousands of people already suffering from dementia and Alzheimer’s.”

Oxfordshire has a growing elderly population and according to a study done by Oxfordshire County Council, the number of people over the age of 90 in the county will increase by 382 per cent in the next 30 years to 23,000.

John Radcliffe Hospital dementia consultant Dr Sarah Pendlebury, said: “It’s definitely the case that if you have people living into their 80s and 90s, there is a higher likelihood of them developing dementia. Alzheimer’s receives far less funding than cancer research.”

The adverts will feature actor Seth Rogan, TV personality Arlene Phillips and author Sir Terry Pratchett, who died this year and was diagnosed with dementia in 2007.