ITV This Morning's Sian Welby issues heartbreaking plea over health crisis

Sian Welby has encouraged individuals "not to be scared" of visiting family members affected by dementia.

The 38-year-old ITV This Morning presenter recently revealed her father, Jim's diagnosis with vascular dementia—a condition that impacts approximately 180,000 people in the UK alone. The health condition occurs when the blood flow is reduced to the brain, causing neurological deficits.

During a heartfelt conversation on Anna Richardson's podcast It Can't Just Be Me, Sian opened up about the challenges families face when a loved one is affected by dementia. She emphasised the significance of maintaining a presence in their lives.

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She said: "Something I would like to get across is for people not to be scared of it because I think, because it’s our dads, we’re really close to it and connected to it. When it is grandads and you’re one step removed, there’s a bit like ‘oh, I don’t want to go and visit him because it confuses him’."

Sian says she was recently speaking to a new mother who was worried about taking her child to see her grandad because he won’t understand who they are. Sian explained: “I went ‘oh just go, go and see him, make his day, even if he calls you Kate and your name is Jane, just be that person that he will know, no matter what, that someone came to visit him that day.

"Whatever he makes of that moment, it will have added some joy and spice to that afternoon. So my message has been to people, whatever stage they’re at, really just embrace it."

Sian, who will be joining her Capital Breakfast co-hosts Chris Stark and Jordan North on Saturday Kitchen this morning (Saturday, November 30), emphasises the importance of accepting that dementia does "change" a person. She hopes this understanding will encourage people to "embrace" their loved ones and take time to understand them.

She added: "It’s one of those things where we’ve talked about the scary or terrifying stages of dementia but for now, if you are living in the moment, whether it’s your dad, your grandad, your wife, your partner, we are seeing it in younger and younger people and it’s a case of don’t dwell on who they were. Be in the moment, embrace who they are now, and be patient.

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"I don’t tend to correct my dad, I let him tell me a story. I’ll maybe only correct him if he goes round and round on the same topic, I’ll maybe say ‘oh yeah dad, you did actually say that’."

Earlier this year, while appearing on This Morning, Sian discussed how her father’s "independence" had been affected by dementia.She said: “He was such a practical ‘can do it’ man, I never went to an MOT thinking the car would because my dad would fix it.

“He could do plumbing, he could build shelves, and we started noticing he started struggling with the problem solving element of things like that, that he’d normally be able to just solve. So he relies on everybody a lot more.”

Sian's mum Helen noticed Jim started to ask her questions twice in quick succession before the family noticed Jim became increasingly forgetful.

Sian says the family eventually noticed that doing a practical activity, such as painting a cupboard, helped Jim "stay in the moment" and hold a conversation more freely. But there is no cure for dementia, and eventually Jim will continue to decline.

"Eventually you're going to become strangers," says Sian. "Even the thought of it makes me cry now because the thought of someone like your own dad not knowing who you are, the thought that you're going to walk into a room and they'll be like 'who are you? Do I know you?' and it is so possible, is heartbreaking."