People around me pointed out that something was wrong, but I rebelled inwardly

As my life in Malaysia continued, I began to forget things that I wouldn’t normally forget to do, such as taking my children to and from cram school. It was just after I turned 50. When my family complained about it, I just said, “I’m busy with my work, so I can’t help it!”
However, in 2017, I was headhunted by a Tokyo-based company for a new job and went to work in the Singapore office apart from my family, but my work was not going well. After having heard of my situation from a local employee, the managing director of the head office ordered me to check it out immediately saying that your brain was out of order. However I repulsed his order, thinking to myself that he was too arrogant to advise me to see a doctor out of his concern for the possibility of any disease. I had no consciousness of the disease.

Life changes drastically after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease

I visited a neurosurgeon in Penang, Malaysia. As the result of MRI, brain atrophy was confirmed and I was diagnosed with the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. The doctor also tole me that there was no effective medication for this disease. Consequently,I had no choice but resign from my job. I was at the age of 54.
I changed jobs several times, but was blamed for not being able to send money to my family, and around this time my wife and I divorced. While I had gone through difficult times in my life such as unwilling squabble and departure with my family, wandering around, failure in my working place, I repeatedly asked my self “why me?”

Mother’s words of help led me back to Japan finding new challenges

In the midst of the outbreak of the new coronavirus, my mother living in Oita who worried me too much to look on any longer, contacted me saying, “you have already done your best, don’t worry about anything, just come home” It was my first visit home in 38 years. I am now the Oita Prefecture Ambassador of Hope for Dementia, and I have been invited to speak at various places in the prefecture, which has given me a wonderful opportunity to reflect on where I have come from and how to live from now on. The number of people with dementia will continue to increase. I believe that coexistence with dementia is necessary for the future of society.
As a person who has suffered from the disease, I would like to convey to my friends who are suffering from the disease, “don’t worry, you will be fine,” and that there are various support groups and organizations such as the “Association of Families with Dementia” that will help them.

Written by Tetsuya Shimoda
Translated by Satoshi Nakano, Masako Amemiya