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Fiona Phillips, the renowned English journalist, and broadcaster in the UK, has recently announced that she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease at the age of 62. Fiona discovered her condition a year ago after experiencing months of brain fog and anxiety.
The 62-year-old former TV presenter is now determined to fight and is also taking part in clinical trials for a revolutionary new drug, more than a year after discovering she has Alzheimer’s.
Having the same disease that has ‘ravaged her family’, and has had a devastating impact on her personal life, with her mother, father, and uncle also succumbing to dementia. Despite the challenges, Fiona Phillips remains resilient and aims to share her story to support others facing the same and create awareness.
Fiona Phillips has worked tirelessly to raise the issue of Alzheimer’s as a priority for government. For ten years it’s remained the biggest killer disease of women. I’m devastated for her that she’s been diagnosed too, at only 61 pic.twitter.com/XeoYRjWiMU
— Nicky Clark (@MrsNickyClark) July 5, 2023
About Fiona Phillips’s journey
Fiona Phillips is an English journalist, broadcaster, and television presenter. She is best known for her presenting roles with the ITV Breakfast programme GMTV Today. The former ITV breakfast show host is currently a columnist at the Mirror.
Married to Martin Frizell who is also an editor at TV’s This Morning, shared that, “Yes, tragically Fiona’s family has been riddled with it.” The two share a history of working as journalists, presenters, or editors, for a number of the same channels.
According to Martin, Fiona Phillips has been carrying the secret of her illness for 18 months but yesterday she chose to share the news with the world that she has also been suffering from the same disease that took away her parents.
Fiona, who is mother to Nat (aged 24) and Mackenzie (aged 21) has decided she can no longer hide the news of her diagnosis from public view and the world of work which she adores. She believes that they have all the right to know, initially, she was hesitant that people will judge her and claim that she kept it for 18 months but it wouldn’t help to keep it to herself any longer.
“There is still an issue with this disease that the public thinks of old people, bending over a stick, talking to themselves,” says Fiona. “But I’m still here, getting out and about, meeting friends for coffee, going for dinner with Martin, and walking every day.”
Fiona looks amazing and cheerful, aged 62, her skin seems flawless, and knowing her personality, her friends and family claim that she has laughed her way out on her journey as a successful British journalist. But according to Martin, “Behind the smiles, there seems a subdued sense of anxiety – something which emerged in the months after Covid and first gave concern for her health.”
She started feeling that her anxiety and health issues were rising but thought it to be a symptom of menopause and never took it that seriously. “It all started with Fiona feeling crippling anxiety towards the end of 2021,” explains Martin.
Fight with Alzheimer’s
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia. It is a progressive disease beginning with mild memory loss and possibly leading to loss of the ability to carry on a conversation and respond to the environment. Alzheimer’s disease involves parts of the brain that control thought, memory, and language.
Fiona Phillips hopes by telling her story she can help end the stigma around the disease, which still remains in most of the women she has met, and she intends to give comfort to others by sharing news of clinical trials in which she is taking part which could revolutionize future Alzheimer’s treatment.
More people with Alzheimer’s are needed to join groundbreaking drug trials similar to the one that TV presenter Fiona Phillips is taking part in. “People with dementia who take part in clinical trials tend to have better outcomes regardless of whether the medication they are administered works,” according to a professor at University College London’s dementia research center.
“We are certainly firm believers that the way forward is to take part in research,” said Prof Jonathan Schott, a neurologist at UCL and Alzheimer’s Research UK’s chief medical officer.
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