Fiona Phillips: Presenter reveals she has Alzheimer's at 62

Fiona Phillips has said she has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's at the age of 62.

The journalist and broadcaster discovered she had the disease a year ago after suffering months of brain fog and anxiety, she told the Daily Mirror.

Phillips, former host of ITV breakfast show GMTV, said dementia had "decimated" her family after her mother, father and uncle also had the disease.

She added she was "getting on with it".

The mother-of-two, who is a columnist for the Mirror, told editor Alison Phillips that she was trying to "carry on" as normal, but wanted to share her story to help others.

She said that despite fearing she would one day be diagnosed with Alzheimer's, it had still come as a shock when her doctor said her test results showed early stages of the disease.

• How common is early Alzheimer's?

"It's something I might have thought I'd get at 80," she says. "But I was still only 61 years old."

The presenter said she felt "more angry than anything else" because the disease had already had such an impact on her family life.

"My poor mum was crippled with it, then my dad, my grandparents, my uncle. It just keeps coming back for us," she said.

Phillips said she was undergoing trials at University College Hospital in London for a drug called Miridesap, which could potentially slow the effects of the disease.

She also described how her husband Martin Frizell, the editor of ITV's This Morning programme, had been helping her take the medication.

She said: "Poor Martin, he has been injecting my stomach every day, he has been brilliant.

"The drugs are brand new and they're expecting a lot from this and so am I."

In the meantime, she said: "I am just getting on with it, I'm not taking notice of it.

"I'm just doing what I normally do. I don't want to not work, be sitting around playing with my fingers, or watching telly. I just like doing things."

Phillips previously anchored GMTV for more than a decade from 1997 and took part in the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing in 2005.

A long-standing supporter of the Alzheimer's Research UK charity, she has spoken publicly about her parents' battles with the disease in the past, and presented a Channel 4 documentary titled Mum, Dad, Alzheimer's and Me in 2009.

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'Courage and optimism'

On Wednesday, her fellow TV presenter Lorraine Kelly said she was sending her love to a "good, kind soul".

Kelly posted on Twitter that, "as expected", Phillips was dealing with her "shattering" diagnosis with "courage and optimism".

"I pray the treatment works and results in a massive breakthrough for everyone dealing with this hellish disease," she added. "Sending her and her family all my love."

Good Morning Britain anchor Susanna Reid sent the best wishes of everyone at the show to a "hugely popular presenter and journalist".

"We all know and love her," she said on the programme.

Phillips spoke to Prime Minister David Cameron at an event for the Alzheimer's Society's Dementia Friends programme in 2012

GMB co-host and former Education Secretary Ed Balls said former Prime Minister Gordon Brown had been so impressed by Phillips' work that he had tried to persuade her to "give up television and come into government".

"He thought she would be a brilliant public health minister," said Balls. "Someone who could communicate to people about things which would really make a difference to their lives, as she did on the television."

"I think she decided that broadcasting was her priority," he added. "She would've been brilliant."

In 2012, Phillips did take part in a government campaign to encourage families to have a difficult conversation with their loved ones about the condition and seek help.

Kate Lee, chief executive at the Alzheimer's Society, praised Phillips' decision to share her diagnosis, which raised "much-needed awareness of dementia".

Hilary Evans, chief executive of Alzheimer's Research UK, said: "It takes such courage to go public with a diagnosis and Fiona knows better than most just how much good that can do.

"Awareness is vital and Fiona's bravery will help untold people who are going through their own dementia journeys."

She added that there were around 70,800 people under 65 with dementia in the UK.

What is early onset Alzheimer's?

Alzheimer's is mostly a disease of old age, with one in six people over the age of 80 developing it.

Early onset (also known as young onset) Alzheimer's is relatively rare. Still, 5% of all Alzheimer's cases are in those under the age of 65.

The only known risk factor for getting Alzheimer's at a young age is if our close relatives also had early onset disease, and there is no known way of preventing it.

Early onset disease follows the same unstoppable course as it does in older age, affecting memory, thinking skills and behaviour.

The first drugs that can slightly slow the pace of Alzheimer's have cleared clinical trials, but are not yet routinely available.

Other drugs are being researched - one of those, miridesap, is being trialled to see whether it can remove a protein from the brain which may lead to dementia.

• Fiona Phillips: How common is early Alzheimer's?

How to spot the early signs of Alzheimer's

According to the NHS, in the early stages, the main symptom of Alzheimer's disease is memory lapses. People may:

• Forget about recent conversations or events

• Misplace items

• Forget the names of places and objects, or have trouble thinking of the right word

• Ask questions repetitively

• Show poor judgement or find it harder to make decisions

• Become less flexible and more hesitant to try new things

• Show signs of mood changes, such as increasing anxiety or agitation, or periods of confusion

For details of organisations and resources that can help with information and support on Alzheimer's disease and dementia, see the BBC Action Line website.