Rob Beattie, 65, left school at 15 with no qualifications and joined the Royal Air Force at 16 as a boy apprentice to later qualify as an avionics engineer. Promoted to sergeant, he then moved to programming and worked on the jammers for the Falkland s war.
In 2014 Rob s wife Karen, 59, was diagnosed with cancer and had to go through surgery, chemo and radiotherapy. At this time, Karen started to notice changes in Rob. It took a long time for Karen to persuade Rob to go to the doctors, but within weeks of attending, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer s in 2017.
Despite the challenges that come with dementia, such as memory loss, anxiety and changes to hearing and vision, Rob and Karen continue to live life well. They are both very active. They climb Snowden regularly, and go skiing twice a year. Rob and Karen now dedicate much of their time to volunteering and fundraising. They run a monthly coffee morning in their local chapel to raise money for charities, recently including air ambulance and childhood diabetes. Rob attends the local veteran s group on a weekly basis and work in the Man Shed on Christmas decorations to raise money for Alzheimer s Society.
Together they have delivered dozens of Information Sessions in both English and Welsh to help spread awareness and understanding of dementia, and how best to interact with people with dementia, to audiences including college and university students studying to work in healthcare, pharmacists and GPs.
In August they spoke at the Welsh National Eisteddfod, a celebration of Welsh culture and language which attracts 150,000 people annually. Between them they have created hundreds of Dementia Friends, committed to helping make sure services and shops are accessible to people with dementia.
