Sports presenter Alison Walker has told how her dementia-suffering mum no longer knows who she is after finally being allowed to give her a hug.
The TV host’s parents Sandy and Olive both have dementia and have been in a Glasgow care home for five-and-a-half years.
After the clampdown on visits to stop the spread of coronavirus, Alison was finally able to hug her parents, both in their 80s, last Friday.
The former BBC presenter, of Glasgow, said: “I was delighted to get in and hug them but I still have a mixture of grief, anger and relief.
"Up until October my mum still knew who I was when I’d Skype her. But my visit was tinged with sadness because now she doesn’t correlate me being her daughter or know my name. She just knows I’m familiar.
“My dad doesn’t make any sense in conversation. But when I hugged him, he said, ‘That’s lovely.’ I could feel them get energy from me as we hugged.”
