One Last Thing

Description

Wendy Mitchell doesn't fear anything anymore. After her diagnosis of young-onset dementia in 2014, all of Wendy's old fears melted away: the dark, animals, her girls growing up without their mum. What more was there to be afraid of when she faced her worst fear: losing her own mind? While living with her diagnosis and facing the extreme changes that come along with a terminal illness, Wendy wrote two Sunday Times-bestselling books, went skydiving for the first time and supports multiple dementia advocacy groups in the UK. She is known for talking about living with dementia, but now - while she is still able to - she explores dying with it. Consulting policy makers on the topic of assisted dying, lawyers fighting to make it legal and those vehemently opposed to its practice, Wendy reminds us that to get on with the business of living, we need to talk about death. In One Last Thing, Wendy embarks on a journey to explore all angles of death: how we can prepare for it, how we talk about it with our loved ones and how we can be empowered to choose our own ending.

Wendy Mitchell spent twenty years as a non-clinical team leader in the NHS before being diagnosed with young-onset dementia in July 2014 at the age of fifty-eight. Shocked by the lack of awareness about the disease, both in the community and in hospitals, she vowed to spend her time raising awareness about dementia and encouraging others to see that there is life after a diagnosis. In 2019 she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Health by the University of Bradford for her contribution to research. She has two daughters and lives in Yorkshire.

Essential reading for those living with dementia, those who support them, professionals working in the field and any 'curious individual' . . . Her message for those given a dementia diagnosis is to never give up on themselves * Sunday Times Magazine on What I Wish People Knew About Dementia * The world could do with more Wendy Mitchells ... This is a book from which we can all learn -- Praise for 'Somebody I Used to Know' Jackie Annesley * Sunday Times *