It was there all the time, waiting for me, like for all my family. It's not hereditary, I'm predisposed to the disease

There are events from the past couple of years which former TV breakfast host Fiona Phillips now struggles to remember.

- ALISON PHILLIPS

It could be something simple like a conversation with a friend yesterday. Or a night out for dinner with her husband last week.

For as she revealed exclusively in the Mirror yesterday, Fiona, 62, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's last year, after months of forgetfulness, anxiety and brain fog.

While recent memories can be difficult for Fiona to find, there are others which sit heavily and to which she often returns. None more so than the toll Alzheimer's has taken on her family.

While doctors have explained her condition is not hereditary, they have said she is predisposed to it due to her family history.

Fiona's mother, Amy, began to be impacted by it in her 50s and died in 2006, aged 74.

Fiona, who has two sons, Nat, 24, and Mackenzie, 21, says: "This disease has already taken a big chunk out of my life. My mum got it very badly. I was living in London and my parents were in Wales. Every weekend I'd put the boys in the back of the car and bomb down in my little car to see Mum."

Fiona adds: "She became very scared and would cry all the time and go out and get lost. That's terrible if you get lost and can't make yourself known, and are frightened and crying.

That happens to a lot of people."

I try to comfort Fiona by saying that bleak experience of Alzheimer's is not the same for everyone.

But there's little Fiona isn't aware of about this illness. She has watched it unfold time and again in her family, has been an ambassador for dementia charities, addressed conferences on it, and presented TV documentaries about it.

She says: "Yes, it can be very different for different people.

"I think my dad got it towards the end of Mum's life and it actually made him very funny.

"When me and my brothers were kids he was always strict. But when he fell ill with dementia he became really warm and lovely, laughing at everything."