Thatcher's Battle with Dementia, by her Daughter

By Chris Green, The Independent

August 25, 2008

United Kingdom

Carol Thatcher and her mother, the former prime minister, who suffers from dementia and often forgets recent events

On A fine summer's day in 2000, Margaret Thatcher and her daughter, Carol, were having lunch in a hotel overlooking Hyde Park in Knightsbridge, west London. Despite being well into her 75th year, the Iron Lady was on good form, happily reminiscing about her time in office and wishing she could do it all again.

But then something changed. When her daughter asked about the Bosnian conflict of the 1990s, the usually unflappable former prime minister became confused. In the space of a few sentences, she conflated the Balkan conflict with the Falklands war. It was the moment that Carol Thatcher realised her mother's memory had started to fail. 

In her memoir, A Swim-On Part in the Goldfish Bowl, the daughter of the former Tory leader has written for the first time about her mother's struggle with dementia, a condition which began to reveal itself a decade after her tearful exit from Downing Street in 1990. 

Recalling that lunch, Carol Thatcher writes: "The realisation came as a thunderbolt. I almost fell off my chair, watching her struggle with her words and her memory. I couldn't believe it. I had always thought of her as ageless, timeless and 100 per cent, cast-iron, damage proof." 

Thatcher, 55, says she had always admired her mother's ability to remain unflustered. Was this not the same woman who had addressed a baying House of Commons with calm resolve on countless occasions? Her mental confusion in the quiet restaurant seemed inexplicable. 

"The contrast was all the more striking because, until that point, she'd always had a memory like a website," she writes. "During Prime Minister's Questions, she could rise from the front bench in an economic debate and recite the rate of inflation all the way back to William Gladstone, without a note." 

Carol says her mother, once razor sharp, soon became oblivious to the fact she was asking the same question over and over. She grudgingly agreed to reject public speaking engagements on the advice of her doctor, and on "bad days" would even struggle to complete her own sentences. 

"On any visit, I'd pop into the kitchen to scan the noticeboard where her calendar was written out, before going to see her in the sitting room. 'Hi, Mum', I'd say, 'how was your lunch with so-and-so in the House of Lords?' She'd look up as if she barely recognised me and say, 'Did I, darling?'" 

The extracts, which reveal a vulnerable side of the Iron Lady rarely glimpsed by the public, appeared in The Mail on Sunday yesterday and show how Mrs Thatcher's daily life was affected as her condition deteriorated after a series of minor strokes in 2002. 

Her husband, Denis, who was her rock throughout her decade in power, found her mental decline extremely distressing, said their daughter. Tragically, after his death from pancreatic cancer in 2003, the former prime minister had to be repeatedly reminded that he was gone. 

"Every time it finally sank in that she had lost her husband of more than 50 years, she'd look at me sadly and say 'Oh', as I struggled to compose myself. 'Were we all there?' she'd ask softly." 

Another shock came on the day of the Madrid terrorist bombings in 2004, when Baroness Thatcher had invited a few of her former political colleagues for dinner. By the time they arrived, she had forgotten that the atrocity had even occurred. 

Lady Thatcher still shows flashes of her old self, but these moments usually come when she is talking about events from her days in office. Now aged 82, her memory of her time at Number 10 is still remarkably clear. "When I invited a friend round to Mum's house for tea, he engaged her in conversation about Mikhail Gorbachev. Quick as a flash, she snapped back into Iron Lady mode and was utterly engaging. It was as if the dementia had sharpened her powers of long-term recall." 

Carol Thatcher acknowledges that thanks to her wealth and position, her mother has been luckier than most dementia sufferers, who are often unable to pay for constant supervision and nursing care. 

A Devastating and Incurable Condition

By Neil Hunt 

*Reports of Baroness Thatcher's dementia have shone a light on a condition that is under-recognised and underfunded in the UK. One in three of people who live to be 65 will die with dementia, and yet there is still no cure for this devastating condition that robs people of their lives. Dementia is more than just forgetfulness. Symptoms of dementia can also include confusion, mood changes and problems with speech and understanding. 

These symptoms vary from case to case, and everyone is affected in different ways. It is caused by diseases of the brain. There are a number of different conditions which lead to dementia, including Alzheimer's disease and vascular disease. 

The biggest risk factor is age, but it can strike at any time of life. Other risk factors include smoking, obesity, high blood pressure and cholesterol, so it is important to eat a healthy diet, take regular exercise and not smoke. There are 700,000 people with dementia in the UK and the number will rise to over a million in less than 20 years. Dealing with the symptoms can be challenging and dementia has a huge impact on families. 

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