Daughter's pledge after mother, 50, diagnosed with dementia

Dudley resident Louise Overton was only 19 when she first noticed her mother’s condition. The now-32-year-old started to pick up on changes in her mother’s behaviour years before any medical diagnosis.

Jane Wilcox was just 44 when she was started to develop dementia – an illness which would eventually come to take not only her memory but also her voice.

Mrs Overton said: “She was extremely young, I got married when I was 19 and it started to happen around then.

“We noticed things weren’t quite right, mum was finally diagnosed when she was 50 and since then we have watched the painful process of deterioration.

“Growing up I have always needed my mum as any girls do, especially when I had children of my own, but I’ve never had that luxury and never will.

“My mum is now on complete bed rest and struggling to eat so I’m doing this walk for her, for other women who will need their mum, for the children who will need their nan.”

Both mother and daughter have worked at Concord Market in Sedgley.

Now on a mission to raise funds and awareness of the condition, Mrs Overton will take part in the Alzheimer’s Society’s Memory Walk on September 16.

She is taking part with brother Peter Andrews, 36, cousin Chris Whitaker, 42, Amy Ennis, 41, Esther Ashlee, 28, Louise’s son Ayden Overton, nine, and daughter Kelsie Overton, 12, cousin Heidi Fellows, 37, and friends Kerry Round, 40, and Danielle Harkins, 30.

The event, which takes place in Sutton Park, Birmingham, will see those entering walk 3.5km or 5.5km.

Mrs Overton, who hopes to raise around £150, said: “Alzheimer’s is very close to my heart, that’s why I’m doing it, I’m hoping it will raise awareness.”

Some 26,000 people over 65 in Birmingham and the Black Country are estimated to be living with dementia.