IMAGINE coping with a dementia diagnosis if you have a young family, a job, a mortgage and credit card debts.

That’s the reality for those diagnosed with young onset dementia, a term used for people of working age with the condition.

Dementia is thought of as a condition affecting older people - but many people are diagnosed in their forties, thirties and even younger, bringing added pressures.

Pathways Breaks is a Bradford organisation supporting people with young onset dementia and their families. Run by volunteers, it organises holidays and social events, enabling people to enjoy activities they couldn’t otherwise manage.

The group currently helps around 30 people, some referred by the Alzheimer’s Society.

“A dementia diagnosis at a younger age has massive knock-on implications on things like finances and family life,” says volunteer Clare Mason. “People have to give up their jobs and sometimes their spouse or partner has to leave theirs too, to care for them.

“We have someone in the group whose wife works fulltime but he’s frightened to be at home on his own, so she gets up early to drop him off at a day centre then picks him up after work.

“Many people with young onset dementia still have young children, a mortgage, a car loan, credit cards. Not everyone with dementia gets a disability allowance or a blue badge. Some face the prospect of selling their homes - moving house is traumatic enough, but with dementia it can be extremely confusing and distressing.”

The youngest person Clare has come across with dementia was just 22. Another member of the group had vascular dementia caused by stroke. “He had his first stroke at 26 which affected his short-term memory, and he had to give up his job. He had more strokes and his memory worsened,” says Clare. “We have some people with Lewy body dementia which shares symptoms with Parkinson’s disease and can cause visual hallucinations.

“Dementia is still seen largely as an older person’s illness, but many people diagnosed with it younger have jobs and young children, or teenagers doing exams. They have to cope with dementia as well as the challenges of family life.”

Pathways holds annual holidays at a country park in Derbyshire. “Holidays can be difficult for people with dementia and those caring for them,” says Clare. “One man went to Paris and ended up in the corridor, locked out of his hotel room. He was found going up and down in the lift, very distressed. He’d been fluent in French but could no longer speak it. His wife said they couldn’t go on any more overseas holidays, it was too stressful. Another man was in Spain and couldn’t find his way back to his hotel.

“Holidays can be fraught with problems. Airports are busy, confusing places at the best of times but with dementia this is magnified. And you can’t just ask someone who has dementia to stay with luggage or passports while you go off to do something.”

The holiday park that Pathways Breaks uses has facilities that meet specific needs. “We go in term-time so it’s not too busy. We go swimming, have bike rides and eat meals together; taking into consideration things like the colour of food, and coloured drinking glasses, as people have visual differences. And we put signs on doors identifying “bathroom” and so on, so people can find their way around,” says Clare. “We also organise trips and spa breaks for carers, giving them a break.”

The group also organises bi-monthly social events. “Trips and meals become a thing of the past for some families, so the social element is key to us,” says Clare. “Every other month we go for an affordable meal and we pick venues carefully; it’s important that staff are understanding and that the place is well lit. We have cookery sessions at Jamie’s Ministry of Food in Bradford, the staff are fantastic there. It’s somewhere people can still cook together, as a couple.”

Clare worked for the Alzheimer’s Society in Bradford and now teaches care home, hospice and hospital staff about dementia care. She is a Dementia Friends champion for the Alzheimer’s Society.

Pathways Breaks, which relies on donations and fundraising, is run by volunteers, many with personal experience of dementia, including Clare whose father has vascular dementia.

Members raised funds from a bucket collection at a performance of Billy Elliot at the Alhambra on Saturday.

* Find out more about Pathways Breaks by emailing info@pathwaysbreaks.co.uk, on Twitter @PathwaysBreaks or Facebook at pathwaysbreaks.