Recently Angela Rippon investigated dementia in a TV programme. Dementia took her mother’s life and is now affecting her friends. Angela visited people who are living with the disease and families that carry a gene for early-onset Alzheimer’s. In an ageing population, dementia is an issue that is likely to touch each one of us some time in our lives. We are hearing more about it on the media as our population ages. In his article ‘Dementia, God, & Christian Faith’ James Howell, a pastor in Charlotte, North Carolina, says that polls indicate we fear dementia more than we fear cancer. However in Christianity, well-being is not gauged by the presence or absence of illness or distress. Well-being is defined by the presence of God, and God is not distant from the one with dementia, or from those who love someone with dementia. Howell says, ‘Can someone with dementia have a spiritual life? I’ve seen forgetful, withdrawn people to be quite prayerful; faith sometimes achieves a lovely simplicity in such instances.’ See