So if you tell us, there's nothing we can do, we go away believing it, like I thought it was the end.

Now, if only my consultant had said, yes, the diagnosis is that of young onset dementia,

and not something anyone would wish to have.

But think of it as the start of a different life.

You're listening to Doing It Right with me, Pandora Sykes, a podcast where I talk to experts

about the myths, anxieties and trends of modern life.

There's no such thing as the right life, but what might we be getting wrong?

In this series, Series 3, I'll be exploring sleep, the science of emotions and fast fashion, and I'll be asking my guests

questions like, is baby brain a real thing? Is everything we've been told about skincare wrong?

And why aren't we talking more about dementia? This is a podcast that asks, what can we do to live life better?

Not just for ourselves, but for everyone.

There are 50 million people living with dementia worldwide.

By 2050, it's likely to rise to 152 million.

But how much do you know about dementia? And when it's a disease

so rapidly on the rise, why aren't we talking about it more? Wendy Mitchell is a former

NHS worker who was diagnosed with young onset dementia at the age of 58. She's written

two books, somebody I used to know, and

what I wish people knew about dementia. We talk about why dementia is so much more than memory

loss, how the arts often falls back on stereotypes when featuring characters with dementia,

and how Wendy thinks a diagnosis of dementia could be better broken by doctors.

It's not the end of life, she says. It's the beginning of a different one.

Wendy is the most incredible advocate for education around dementia, even when it saps her of precious resources.

...