She asked an innocent question about a saucepan. Nothing was ever the same

It started with a saucepan. Cathy Daly was in the kitchen when she asked her husband Ged where she could find it. The pan had been in the same cupboard for 23 years.

“I just knew,” Ged said. “I knew something was very wrong. I remember crying. I would never let her see, but I was devastated."

It was March 2019 when Ged instantly recognised Cathy’s first sign of young-onset dementia.

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Ged, from the Chadderton area of Oldham, decided to take Cathy to a doctor following a concerning incident a few months later. Cathy had become lost and confused while walking through the hallway of a holiday home.

The couple, who have been married for nearly 30 years, visited their GP practice twice but were told to return a few months later.

Cathy, a former Co-op manager, was eventually referred to the memory clinic where she underwent a series of memory tests. By the time she was referred for an MRI scan, the Covid pandemic hit.

Cathy finally had her scan in September 2020 which revealed devastating results. At the age of 63, Cathy had young-onset dementia.

The condition, also known as early-onset dementia, sees a person develop dementia before the age of 65. It’s estimated there are more than 70,800 people in the UK living with young-onset dementia.

Ged, who works for the Department of Work and Pensions, can recall the moment he was given the news. “I had to take the phone call because she was denying everything,” he said. “She still denies it now.

“They told me the outcome but I just knew anyway because of things that were happening. It wasn’t a great shock to me. It was hard for her as she had watched her dad go through dementia.”