The presenter has been helping to look after her mum Joan ever since she's been diagnosed
Loose Women's Ruth Langsford has opened up on the "responsibility" of unpaid carers, as she shares an update on her mum's diagnosis.
The 65-year-old presenter helps to look after her mum, Joan, who was diagnosed with dementia shortly after her father Dennis died in 2012 following complications caused by Alzheimer's disease.
Her mum currently lives in a care home just around the corner from Ruth's house in Surrey after moving up from Cornwall a few years ago.
Reflecting on her mum's health, Ruth shared: "She wouldn’t remember what she’s had for her lunch or breakfast, and if I go and see her, when I leave, if you said to her was Ruth here today, she’d say no.
"But in the moment, she still knows it’s me – as soon as she sees me, she says ‘Oh, what a lovely surprise!’ like she hasn’t seen me for months.
"It’s very difficult, but I’m much more well-versed in this with my mum, because of my dad. We as a family had no idea about Alzheimer’s or dementia when he got it, and we were a bit lost. I learned a lot of lessons with my dad."
She went onto add that she doesn't care for her mum 24/7, and explained: "I don’t have that day-to-day care of cooking, cleaning, all those things, but I am still her main carer. So if they say your mum needs to see the doctor, or the dentist, or she needs some shower gel and toothpaste, then that does come down to me.
"And just generally I go in, I take her fruit, I take her flowers, I check the room, I look at her wardrobe, make sure things are hung in the right place. It’s care with love, isn’t it?"
The presenter was also quick to point out that stress that unpaid carers go through when someone in their family needs extra support.
She continued: "Responsibility like that can weigh very heavily on people, and even though it’s somebody that you really love and you want to take care of them, it’s difficult and you feel responsible, especially if it’s people doing it on their own – it can be very lonely being a carer.
"And some of them are doing this 24/7 on their own, which I think is very, very difficult. And they need all the support they can get."
Ruth first joined the Loose Women panel back in 1999 before re-joining the show as a presenter in 2014.
Reflecting on how "fortunate" she feels to have her job, Ruth added: "And honestly, I love my work. I’m very lucky. Of course, there are days when I wish I didn’t have to go in because I’m tired or whatever, but I never dread going to work. I love my job, and I’m very fortunate".
