By CHAT News Today with files from Reid Fiest

Medicine Hat man part of national campaign to end stigma surrounding dementia

Jan 9, 2018 | 2:00 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — A Medicine Hat man living with Alzheimer’s disease has become a spokesperson for the Alzheimer Society of Canada to help reduce the stigma surrounding the disease.

Roger Marple was diagnosed with young-onset dementia in 2015, when he was 57 years old.

“It’s safe to say I was in a really dark place, and I was really depressed,” he told Global National.

For five months, Marple struggled to speak about the disease, until he realized talking about the disease would help him and others with the disease.

“When most people think about dementia, they picture a person in a wheelchair, unable to communicate, staring out a window,” he said. “That’s what a lot of people see, and i want to say that there’s a thousand faces to dementia.”

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Marple has told his story to the Alzheimer Society of Canada as part of a campaign entitled “I Live With Dementia,” the goal of the campaign is to end the stigma around the disease.

A new study from the society says 25 per cent of Canadians believe the friends and families would avoid them if they had dementia, and only 5 per cent say they’d research the disease if a relative was diagnosed.

Roger’s story can be read here.