To mark International Women’s Day, Caitlin Limmer, Crossroads Care Ambassador and director of the Turks Head 10 Fun Run, shares her experience of caring for her husband who is living with Alzheimer’s
‘I’ve run 19 marathons, cycled and swum through many gruelling endurance events. I’ve even stared death in the face, once being given just 40 minutes to live, as well as having lived with blood cancer for 21 years. But nothing compares to the challenge of being a carer for my husband who has stage 5 Alzheimer’s. It is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
‘With endurance events, you can train and there is a finish line. It was always the finish line that I loved. Even illness gave me choices; I could shape my life around it. Being a carer strips away choices. There is no medal and no emergency stop button.
‘My husband’s condition emerged in 2018 when he forgot how to drive a familiar route he’d travelled for 45 years. Following a formal diagnosis after the pandemic, I explored support services and that’s when I learnt about Crossroads Care. The wonderful people there understood exactly what I was going through.
‘They offer respite care, practical support, and something invaluable — understanding. They provide comfort during what can be people’s darkest moments.
‘The weekend Caring Café, for example, has become a lifeline for me. Weekends are the hardest, but when we attend the café, weekends are so much better.
‘The charity also offers therapies to carers, such as massage, which is great for the sporting body, but for me it’s about the power of touch, a gift that carers seldom receive.
‘Loneliness, isolation and poor mental health— they’re all part of life for carers, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. For me, that light is community or ubuntu, the South African word which means: I am what I am because of who we all are.
‘In Crossroads Care, I have found an extraordinary community of unpaid carers and committed staff. It’s an amazing charity that truly changes lives.’
