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Zoe Bottrill was just 27 when her mother first noticed she was becoming forgetful and kept losing things.By the time she was 29, the mother-of-two had been diagnosed with dementia and was unable to look after her young daughters.
She has now been in the final stages of the disease for five years and spends her days lying in the foetal position in a specially adapted chair.
Zoe Bottrill (pictured before she developed dementia) started to become forgetful and to lose things when she was 27 and had just had her second baby. She was diagnosed with dementia when she was just 29
At just 42, she is unable to move her limbs, can only consume liquids, is unaware of what is going on around her and has not spoken for four years. She is also profoundly deaf.
Her mother, Julie Talbot, 63, told MailOnline: ‘When she was diagnosed I felt utter devastation. I still do.
‘It is very difficult to understand – when someone gets ill and you know it is terminal usually it does not usually go on so long. You have the right to grieve.
‘I grieve for the person she was but we still have a person who isn’t my Zoe.
‘Her life is just one long nightmare.’
Ms Bottrill, who now lives in a care home in Ashford, has two children - Gemma, 20, and Louise, 16.
Ms Bottrill is now 42 and cannot move her limbs, is profoundly deaf, exists on a liquid diet and has not spoken for four years
Her mother says the first signs were that she was forgetful, kept losing things, was putting things in the wrong place as was ‘not really with it’.
However, as her daughter was only 27, dementia was the last thing on her mind.
Mrs Talbot said: ‘You associate dementia with older people. It wasn’t something that crossed my mind.
‘She had just had her second child so I thought she was just struggling to get into a routine.
‘I thought she might have had postnatal depression – you try to come up with answers as you just don’t know.’
In 1999, Ms Bottrill had an argument with her partner and tried to throw a ladder at him.
As a result, she was committed and spent time in hospital while doctors tried to establish what was wrong with her.
She was eventually released but her family soon realised she could not cope.
Mrs Talbot said: ‘The three generations of daughters were all supposed to be going on holiday together, but Zoe decided she did not want to go, so she stayed with my mum, Ruby.
‘Me and the two kids went away, but Zoe forgot where they were.
‘She kept wandering off saying she was looking for them and couldn’t find them.’
As a result, she was taken to the Abraham Cowley Hospital in Wimbledon, a specialist neurological hospital.
There, doctors carried out numerous tests and eventually diagnosed her with dementia.
Mrs Talbot said: ‘We were just told that’s how it is - no one could really answer my questions.
Ms Bottrill's mother, Julie Talbot (right), says at first she thought her daughter had postnatal depression because she had just had her second baby, Louise (left). Louise is now 16 and has never known her mother without dementia
‘I have felt all the emotions sadness, anger, frustration but most of all I feel sad, it’s a living nightmare, I visit what looks like my daughter but it’s not her, not the person she was.’
As a result, Ms Bottrill’s young daughters went to live with their great grandmother, Ruby, who was already in her 70s, and Ms Bottrill was moved to a rehabilitation home in Guildford.
She spent 18 months at the home before the Alzheimer’s Society helped her family to find her a place in an early-onset dementia unit in Ashford. She has been there since May 2005.
Ms Bottrill’s daughter, Louise, who now lives with her older sister, Gemma, said: ‘As I was only around two years old at the time it’s just something I have simply grown up with, for as long as I can remember my mum has had dementia, I don’t really know anything different.
WHAT IS EARLY-ONSET DEMENTIA?
People diagnosed with dementia before they are 65 are said to have early-onset dementia.
There are more than 17,000 people in the UK who are known to have early-onset dementia, but there are thought be a lot more who have not yet been diagnosed.
Young people with dementia often struggle to get a diagnosis because of a lack of awareness of the condition in young people.
They are often misdiagnosed as having depression or as being stressed.
Symptoms include memory problems, poor judgement, mood changes, disorientation and speech and language problems.
There are more than 17,000 people in the UK who are known to have early-onset dementia, but there are thought be a lot more who have not yet been diagnosed.
Young people with dementia often struggle to get a diagnosis because of a lack of awareness of the condition in young people.
They are often misdiagnosed as having depression or as being stressed.
Symptoms include memory problems, poor judgement, mood changes, disorientation and speech and language problems.
She added: ‘She is in the late stages now, she sleeps a lot of the time and cannot really move the lower half of her body. She doesn’t know who I am but I still go and see her.’
Director of Research and Development at the Alzheimer’s Society Dr Doug Brown said: ‘It is estimated around 17,000 people in the UK are living with dementia under the age of 65, but to be diagnosed at such a young age is incredibly rare.
‘If you are worried about any problems with memory or thinking, at any age, you should always go to your GP.’
Last month, Louise and a friend took part in a 10km Memory Walk in Dorking to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Society.
She is hoping to raise money - to help pay for research - and awareness about the condition.
She said: ‘Raising awareness is so important, people are always surprised to find out my mum has dementia as she is so young, I want to show people that it can happen to anyone, it’s not just something that affects older people.
Louise, who has just done a fundraising walk for the Alzheimer's Society, said: 'It is still difficult at times but as I have no recollection of living with my mum I just get on with life'
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