30 December 2023 , 16:54
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Veteran newsreader Alastair Stewart has revealed his wife has to dress him, giving a heartbreaking update on his dementia diagnosis.
The 71-year-old, who was the longest-serving newsreader on British TV, has said he "can't be trusted" to put his shoes or tie on properly, with wife Sally helping him with everyday tasks. The couple, who got married in 1978 and went on to have four children together, have been navigating the symptoms of Alastair's diagnosis together.
But Sally has admitted that one of the hardest things to deal with is his newfound impatience. "If he is looking for a piece of paper, he will go through every drawer, every cupboard," she explained in a new interview.
Alastair Stewart was a main newsreader on ITV News for 35 years (ITV)"A room he has been in will look like a bomb site. He's also incredibly impatient with devices and appliances...his reaction is, 'Buy a new one, now'," she told MailOnline.
Alastair also admitted that Sally's new role as a carer has affected his mental health. He told the publication: "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."
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Elsewhere in the interview, the journalist revealed that although the couple tries to take a light-hearted approach to his condition, the reality is that he could go downhill at any time, with worsening "short-term memory loss" and "another little stroke" all a possibility.
Alastair revealed the news in September while speaking on the Camilla Tominey Show on GB News, where Alastair also presented until recently. Discussing his diagnosis of early onset vascular dementia, he said he started to feel "a bit discombobulated" at the start of 2023.
He said: "I wasn’t becoming forgetful but things like doing your shoelaces properly – that’s how I wear these lovely moccasins now – making sure your tie was straight, remembering that the call time for your programme is four o’clock and not five o’clock, not turning up early or late, and stuff like that. I said 'I’m really worried I might have dementia, early onset dementia.'”
When Stewart had a scan, he was told he'd had a series of cardiovascular events that he knew nothing about. He explained: "I had a scan and it was like a scene from Casualty or Emergency Ward 10, because the results came back and I had indeed had a series of minor strokes that are called infarct strokes. Not the big one … it’s like peppershots. The cumulative effect of that was that I had a diagnosis of early onset vascular dementia."
He praised the NHS, adding that he had made some lifestyle changes since finding out, including stopping smoking, increasing his physical activity and playing puzzles to keep his brain active.