title: Art therapyFormer carer Chris West discovered a talent for drawing late in life. Last month, her charcoal drawings of the brain - inspired by her mother's dementia - went on show at Birmingham City University.
abstract: Chris West cared for her late mother, Hilda, who had dementia with Lewy bodies, for three yearsuntil she moved into a care home in 1997 following a hospital stay. The move was recommended after her mother's condition deteriorated considerably in hospital. Like many other carers, Chris had struggled from the outset to decide what to do for the best, from trying to decide whether to tell her mother about the dementia to dealing with lack of support from the wider family when it became apparent that she needed 24-hour care.