I felt more angry than anything else... this disease just keeps coming for my family

FIONA PHILLIPS: OUR COLUMNIST ON ALZHEIMER'S BATTLE | Star, 62, opens up about shock diagnosis

- ALISON PHILLIPS

Deep down, Fiona Phillips had long feared this moment was waiting for her. And yet it was still the most gut-punching, shuddering shock when a doctor told her one afternoon last year: "Your results are back. And yes, I'm afraid they do show early stages of Alzheimer's disease."

"It's something I might have thought I'd get at 80," she says. "But I was still only 61 years old.

"I felt more angry than anything else because this disease has already impacted my life in so many ways: my poor mum was crippled with it, then my dad, my grandparents, my uncle. It just keeps coming back for us."

Fiona's husband, TV's This Morning editor Martin Frizell nods slowly. "Yes, tragically, Fiona's family has been riddled with it."

Fiona has been carrying the secret of her illness for 18 months but today has chosen to share the news with readers of the Mirror where she has been a columnist for almost 20 years.

"No one has known because I haven't been blaring out loud, oh yeah, I've got Alzheimer's.

"And I have been so worried people will judge me or put labels on me. It's a horrible bloody secret to divulge."

And yet Fiona, who is mum to Nat, aged 24, and Mackenzie, 21, has decided she can no longer hide from public view and the world of work which she adores.

She hopes by telling her story she can help end the stigma which remains around the disease and give comfort to others by sharing news of clinical trials in which she is taking part which could revolutionise future Alzheimer's treatment.

"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.