Newsreader Alastair Stewart reveals his wife has to help dress him now as he gives update on dementia diagnosis
NEWSREADER Alastair Stewart has revealed his wife now has to help him dress as he gives a heartbreaking update on his dementia.
The 71-year-old retired from a 50-year career on TV earlier this year and announced shortly afterwards that he had been diagnosed with vascular dementia.
He told at the time how he had visited his GP after beginning to feel “discombulated” six to nine months ago.
Scans suggested he had suffered a series of strokes before being diagnosed with vascular dementia, which he described as “incurable”.
The NHS says the disease affects more than 944,000 people in Britain.
Speaking about how it is affecting him now, Alastair said: “I can’t be trusted to get my shoes on the right feet, and I can’t manage my own tie.”
The telly star went to explain he isn’t scared about having dementia, but is depressed – because his wife Sally has had to take control.
He told the Daily Mail: “’I find it depressing that she is reduced to the diary-checker, the carer. I mean, before we went out last night she had to check I had the right shoes on the right feet. I can’t just jump in the car and go to the corner shop. Depression is the bigger challenge than fear.”
He and his wife Sally, married since 1978, have four children together – Freddie, Clemmie, Oscar and Alexander.
Stewart was one of the last journalists to interview Lord Mountbatten before he was assassinated by the IRA in 1979.
After starting at Southern Television in Southampton in 1976, he went on to join ITN in 1980 as an industrial correspondent before swiftly becoming a regular newsreader.
He was awarded an OBE in 2006.