Fiona Phillips lands final place on groundbreaking Alzheimer’s trial – but could be taking placebo drug

Fiona Phillips has revealed she is taking part in a revolutionary new drug trial in the hope that it could treat her Alzheimer’s Disease.

The TV presenter, 62, this week opened up on how she had been diagnosed with the heartbreaking condition after suffering from brain fog and anxiety that had left her feeling a ‘shadow of herself’. The former GMTV star and her husband, This Morning boss Martin Frizell, initially thought the symptoms she was experiencing were down to the menopause.

However, further tests uncovered the news she had been dreading – that she had Alzheimer’s, the disease that had 'ravaged' her family. Her parents, grandparents and uncle had all been "crippled" by the same illness, she said.

Opening up about her diagnosis in an interview with The Mirror, where she works as a columnist, Fiona also told how she was taking part in a drug trial at University College Hospital (UCH) in London – which aims to produce medication that could slow the progression of the disease or even reverse it. However, it is not known if Fiona is actually taking the trial drug – as half of those involved are just taking a placebo.

Husband Martin, who she married in 1997, told the outlet: "Even the people we see for the checkups don't know if Fiona is on the real drug or a placebo. It's been weeks now and I like to think her condition is stabilising but I am too close to know really, that could just be my wishful thinking."

Fiona added: "Even if it isn't helping me, these tests will be helping other people in the future so I just have to keep going.”

Speaking about when she got the heartbreaking diagnosis, Fiona told how she was “more angry than anything else” and it was something she thought she might get at the age of 80 – not 61.

She added: “This disease has already impacted my life in so many ways; my poor mum was crippled with it, then my dad, my grandparents, my uncle. It just keeps coming back for us."

Fiona also discussed how she initially chose to hide the diagnosis from her sons Nat, 24, and Mackenzie, 21. She said her boys may have started to see changes in her but she didn’t want to “make a big thing out of it” and have them “sit down as a family” for an announcement.

She was also “worried” her sons would be “embarrassed in front of their friends” or treat her “in a different way”.

Her husband Martin also opened up on how he felt about the diagnosis – saying his only “frustration” was he just wanted her to “get better”. He went on to say he wanted her to remember things, he wanted her apathy to go and he wanted the person back who was “vibrant and interested in things and eager to do new things”.

“But she’s not there at the moment,” he said.

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