An actress who featured on cult scouse soap Brookside has spoken about her "larger than life" dad who died from a rare form of dementia.
Paula Muldoon, 52, played Diana Corkhill in Brookside from 1991 to 1993 Now she is raising money for Alzheimer's Research UK, after her beloved dad, Michael, died from a rare form of the disease ten years ago.
Michael died from frontotemporal dementia, a rare form of the disease that accounts for less than one in 20 cases. He was diagnosed with the disease when he was 53, succumbing to it 11 years later.
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Paula, now a personal trainer and nutritionist, told the ECHO about her "larger than life" dad, and the grief she felt when he died. She said: "My dad started showing signs two years before his diagnosis, so it wasn't unexpected but it was still a devastating blow.
"At this stage he still knew who I was, he still remembered me, but the difficult part is that he could acknowledge and understand the symptoms they're dealing with.
"My dad's nature and character was larger than life and he did everything as if it came after a drum role. He was only 5 6' but he had this big energy.
"He was a great laugh and when he told a joke he'd laugh the loudest. I'd be laughing more at his laugh than his joke because even if the joke was bad when he laughed that loud you'd end up laughing anyway.
"All of these things started to change. But what's stuck with me is the first time my dad didn't know who I was.
"At that moment I just said 'Dad?' and he looked straight at me and said 'Who?' and I knew then he didn't know who I was. I got upset and had to call my friend, crying.
"My dad must've seen what was happening because he just hugged me, patted my back and just called me Braveheart."
That moment is so pertinent in Paula's memory that she chose 'Braveheart' as the name of the work she is doing to fundraise and raise awareness of dementia. The Braveheart Cycle has been run every year since 2011, and through it Paula has raised more than £50,000 for the charity as well as spreading vital awareness of the disease.
She said: "At the beginning, when my dad was diagnosed, I new very little about the disease, I just thought it meant that his memory would be off. I didn't know [the sufferer's] ability to function changed.
"It's someone's motor skills going as well. You know when people talk about 'jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none'- my dad was a master of everything.
"He could build anything. He was an entrepreneur and he had such a great energy.
"But I remember one day after he'd been diagnosed he couldn't even change a plug. It was such a big change from the man who could do anything, who was once ripping buildings apart to DIY them.
"Then eventually his speech went so it was really difficult to communicate. We'd have do charades to get the conversation out."
Paula had to completely relearn how to talk to her dad as there were nuances to the disease that she had not seen before, such as not correcting her father if he forgot a loved one had died, to spare him the grief. She said "I learned over time how to communicate, but it was a journey".
"There's no real medication. There are four medications that ease the symptoms, but they're not changing the progress of dementia itself.
"I also didn't know that one in three of us living today will have to live with dementia at some point. That's hugely significant, so we need the funds, the attention and the awareness so we can try to find medications for the disease and ultimately a cure".
Paula said that her work has brought her closer to her dad than ever before, not only as she began to understand his condition more. She spoke about one of the first Braveheart cycles: "At the start, as we were waiting, there was like six really decked-out, well-built cyclists who all just powered right up to us.
"None of us knew who they were. They hadn't RSVP'd or registered an interest at all.
"But then one of them went 'Oi girl, we're here to cycle for your dad'".
"I was in floods of tears, I just couldn't believe it. These were men who'd grown up around my dad, who found out about it from an old ECHO article, and just turned up on the day.
"It was just amazing".
Anyone who wants to register or find out more about Paula's Braveheart cycle ride can email Paula at paula@corefit.org.uk. To learn more about Alzheimer's disease, go to www.alzheimersresearchuk.org.
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