TV star Fiona Phillips disclosed her Alzheimer’s diagnosis last year, after grappling with brain fog and anxiety for months.
The ex-GMTV anchor received the news a year prior and her husband, Martin Frizell, announced on Wednesday his departure from his role as editor at This Morning after a decade.
Alison Hammond, speaking to Chris Evans on Virgin Radio, expressed her sorrow: “I’ll be honest with you I’m absolutely devastated. He’s been a real rock for the show. But it’s totally understandable why he’s leaving.
“You all know about his wife (Fiona Phillips). We get why he’s leaving, it’s very amicable. He doesn’t want to leave but he has to for family reasons.”
In an exclusive interview with The Mirror, Fiona, reflecting on her condition when she first shared her diagnosis, stated: “This disease has ravaged my family and now it has come for me. And all over the country there are people of all different ages whose lives are being affected by it – it’s heartbreaking. I just hope I can help find a cure which might make things better for others in the future.”
Fiona had always harboured a deep-seated fear of this moment. Yet, it was still a gut-wrenching shock when a doctor informed her: “Your results are back.. And yes, I’m afraid they do show early stages of Alzheimer’s Disease.”
“It’s something I might have thought I’d get at 80”, she admitted.
“But I was still only 61-years-old. I felt more angry than anything else because this disease has already impacted my life in so many ways; my poor mum was crippled with it, then my dad, my grandparents, my uncle. It just keeps coming back for us.”
Her husband Martin said at the time: “Yes, tragically Fiona’s family has been riddled with it.”
Fiona kept her illness a secret for 18 months before sharing the news. “No one has known because I haven’t been blaring out loud, ‘oh yeah, I’ve got Alzheimer’s”, she said at the time.
“And I have been so worried people will judge me or put labels on me. It’s a horrible bloody secret to divulge.”
However, Fiona, who is mother to Nat, 24, and Mackenzie, 21, decided she could no longer hide from public view.
“There is still an issue with this disease that the public thinks of old people, bending over a stick, talking to themselves,” Fiona expressed. “But I’m still here, getting out and about, meeting friends for coffee, going for dinner with Martin and walking every day.”
Fiona and Martin recounted the insidious way Alzheimer’s has infiltrated their marriage and family life. Fiona, due to the nature of her condition, couldn’t recall certain parts of their journey. Martin gently and patiently jogged her memory as they opened up on their experience, even though at times she becomes frustrated when his recollections don’t match her own understanding. However, most of the time she laughed, eagerly holding onto the memories he was bringing up.
One memory that was indelibly etched into both their minds is the moment the doctor announced Fiona’s diagnosis. “I just felt sick”, Martin admits. “We both sat in silence. There was no witty remark to lighten the mood. Nothing clever to say. Nothing. And then the doctor said he’d leave us alone for a while to process it all. We just looked at each other and said: ‘S**t. What are we going to do?”
Fiona chimed in: “It was the shock. Total shock. And then we said to each other. In fact we’ve now become regulars at the pub on the square by the hospital!”
Following this, Fiona and Martin were left with the daunting task of figuring out what next? Martin recalled: “The doctor had said it was very early stages so we just had to go home and try to live our life as normal for now. That was all we could do.”
Amid the shock, there was a glimmer of hope – clinical trials for drugs that could slow the progression of the disease were underway at University College Hospital (UCH) in London, and the research team was still recruiting trial participants.
Fiona was also prescribed some existing medications used in the UK for nearly two decades to treat the disease. However, while these drugs may alleviate symptoms for some patients, they do not halt or reverse the disease’s progress. The drugs being tested at UCH, Miridesap, are different.
If successful and approved by clinical authorities and funded – three significant ifs – these drugs could be transformative for millions by slowing or even reversing the illness. To qualify for the trial, Fiona had to undergo tests to confirm her Alzheimer’s was still in its mild stages. She was asked questions like; what month is it, what season is it, subtract 7 from 100, then from 93, and 86 and so on.
Martin said: “I would be in the taxi with Fiona on the way to the tests and trying to coach her saying, Fiona, it’s Spring, It’s March, it’s the 27th… I just so wanted her to qualify for the trials.”
“The tests were stressful,” added Fiona.
“The last time I did something like that was when I was at school or at a job interview and there I was suddenly thinking: ‘Oh God what if I can’t answer these questions?”
Fortunately Fiona’s Alzheimer’s was confirmed as mild and she was accepted for the very last place on the trial.
The drug is in its third year of assessment – scientists are confident it can deliver results but are still researching any side effects or safety issues. Time will tell if Fiona will benefit, as half of those on the trial are on a placebo drug.
“But even if it isn’t helping me, these tests will be helping other people in the future so I just have to keep going,’ added Fiona.
“Worldwide more than 130 tests are currently taking place and finally it feels like a significant breakthrough on Alzheimer’s treatment is within touching distance. It may not yet be a straightforward cure but doctors are hopeful there may soon be treatments which mean people could live well with Alzheimer’s in the way people are now able to live with HIV.”
Get the latest celebrity gossip and telly news sent straight to your inbox. Sign up to our daily Showbiz newsletter here.