Christmas adverts can carry a powerful message.
None more so than this beautiful animation from Alzheimer’s Research UK.
Santa Forgot imagines a world where Father Christmas is struggling with dementia.
A Helsby woman who cares for her husband with the disease has backed the campaign.
Alison Bulmer saw her partner Paul diagnosed at the age of just 53 with posterior cortical atrophy, a rare form of dementia, in 2012.
She said: “Paul knew it was too late for him but always hoped we could find a cure to help our children and grandchildren.
“I hope the Santa Forgot animation will show others what we know to be true – only research will defeat dementia.
“Sadly Paul can no longer follow images on a television so cannot watch the animation, but I hope others will share it and spread the word about dementia.”
Santa Forgot’s central character is a young girl called Freya, who has grown up in a world where Santa is living with dementia and has stopped visiting on Christmas Eve.
On learning about Santa’s condition, Freya travels to the North Pole.
She offers her own support and re-mobilises the redundant elves as researchers, explaining her belief that ‘if Santa has a disease, research can find a way to fix it’.
It is narrated by Stephen Fry.
The actor and author said he wanted to lend his support to the ‘inspiring and beautiful’ campaign, which aims to raise awareness, and urged others to join the fight against the disease.
Alzheimer’s Research UK chief executive Hilary Evans said: “Santa Forgot is a poignant and powerful reminder that dementia doesn’t discriminate.
“We have to be provocative about dementia, to help fight misconceptions and fatalism around the condition and to demonstrate that pioneering research holds the answers.
“Santa is an important cultural figure, but the idea that he too could be affected drives home the point that dementia can strike those most special in our lives.”
More than 2,000 people are suffering from dementia in Cheshire West and Chester, latest figures have revealed.
Over 850,000 people in the UK have the disease and it has become the leading cause of death among women in the country.
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