Jeanne Little Tragedy Mum Is Still With Us

Katie little reveals her heartbreak that her kids know their amazing.

- Jenny Brown

Locked in the lonely world of Alzheimer’s, entertainer Jeanne Little is lost to her family and fans forever.Sadly, all daughter Katie has left are precious memories – and a wardrobe full of the TV legend’s wacky dresses, coats, shoes and costume jewellery.

‘They all have so many memories attached to them,’ Katie smiles, sharing Jeanne’s glittering career with her own daughter Charlotte, 10, through a special game of dress-ups. ‘It’s so sad that she will never know her grandma, because she is very creative like Mum and just loves fashion and make-up.’

The awful reality is that vibrant, generous Jeanne – who was diagnosed with a rapid-onset form of Alzheimer’s in 2009 – no longer recognises her family. Not even husband Barry, 88, who now lives at the same nursing home in Sydney’s inner west, can spark a glimmer of recognition.

‘It’s a horrible, horrible disease,’ says graphic designer Katie, 43, speaking out to publicise the National Dementia Helpline. ‘I know the person in that nursing home is my mum, but it’s not really like her at all. It’s like mourning someone who has died, in a way, and yet they are still here.’