Dementia may have stopped him from enjoying the occasional beer, but Darce Fardy hasn’t let the diagnosis change his outlook on life.
The retired journalist lives in Halifax with his wife of 57 years, Dorothy.
“I’m going to the gym, I’m reading books, I’m having fun,” he said.
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Fardy has been diagnosed with dementia.
He said he first noticed a change after a conversation with someone whose name he couldn’t remember.
“This guy came and sat down beside me and we talked. When he left, I went over to Dorothy and said ‘who was that?'”
Fardy had previously retired at 75. He became Nova Scotia’s first Freedom of Information Officer, for which he was awarded the Queen’s Jubilee medal.
Previously, he enjoyed a fulfilling career that included opportunities to produce documentaries.
“Some of those documentaries won a lot of awards, it was just a marvelous place to work,” he said.
Dementia describes a group of symptoms that affect the memory and someone’s ability to function on a day-to-day-level, according to Linda Bird, director of the Alzheimer Society of Nova Scotia.
The biggest risk factor for the disease is age, and the odds of diagnosis double after the age of 65.
“There are over 17,000 Nova Scotian’s living with the disease and their families are affected,” Bird said. “We run into people every day, whether you know it or not, who are living with Alzheimer’s or another dementia.”
She said there are 100 different types of dementia and Alzheimer’s accounts for 62 per cent.
January is Alzheimer Awareness Month, and the Alzheimer Society has information and support resources available online.
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