Dad’s lifestyle led to a major stroke – and then dementia

TV PRESENTER Anna Richardson is doing everything she can to look after her heart health. She has witnessed the damage an unhealthy lifestyle can cause, with her ‘big, charismatic, stubborn’ father Jim – a retired Anglican canon – now suffering dementia after a series of strokes and a heart attack. Anna (pictured left, and above as a young girl with her father) says looking back, the risks were clear. ‘Dad is from that generation who likes nothing more than meat, pies, potatoes and bread, with plenty of butter and cream thrown in. ‘A terrible diet and a high-stress lifestyle was a recipe for disaster. He was a workaholic and out all the time, grabbing chips for lunch. By Friday he’d be exhausted and order a Chinese takeaway, then be in the pub on Sunday with his parishioners.’ Jim, 78, was living on his own in Dorset in 2014 when he suffered a couple of ministrokes, a heart attack and then a major stroke within a matter of months. Doctors later diagnosed vascular dementia.

Caused by blocked blood vessels to the brain, it can be linked to high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking or being overweight. It is the second most common type of dementia after Alzheimer’s and affects more than 135,000 Britons.

There is no cure, though some treatments can slow its progression. Jim recently suffered another small stroke and Anna, 48, who has two brothers, says: ‘We’re concerned we have something in our genes to be worried about. My younger brother and I both have high cholesterol.

‘We have all had to watch as Dad got very ill which I’m convinced is because of poor lifestyle choices.’

Anna – whose partner is TV star Sue Perkins – does regular hill walks with her rescue dog, and practises meditation to reduce stress.

As for her diet, she doesn’t claim to be a saint. ‘I’m vegetarian and I would say I’m attuned to feeding my body properly,’ she says. ‘But it is probably 70/30 good and bad. Last night I was drinking amaretto and eating sticky toffee pudding – but it was a Saturday night.’