Arlene Phillips is willing to take part in any trials for an Alzheimer’s disease cure.
The 73-year-old choreographer – who sadly lost her father to the condition in 2000 – is aware she may develop the chronic neurodegenerative disease at some point in her life as it is hereditary and has admitted she will run to Alzheimer’s Research UK – a research institute – and take part in experiments if she felt she was getting symptoms.
Speaking exclusively to BANG Showbiz, she said: "I would race to Alzheimer’s Research UK if I thought I needed to for a trial. I would say to them, ‘Put me on a trial, I’ll do anything.’ I wouldn’t want it to happen to me but I would deal with it if it did."
And, although she is determined to find a cure for the disease, which is a form of dementia, she doesn’t sit and worry about her future as she doesn’t have time.
She explained: "I’m the kind of person that I doesn’t stop to think. I had a really bad year with two of my friends dying of cancer, I’ve had things happen that are so overwhelmingly sad but it doesn’t make me worry about what might happen to me."
However, the former ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ judge is automatically spooked when she can’t remember something as she fears it could be the start of the disease taking hold.
She said: "If I can’t remember something, I think ‘Oh my gosh!’ My daughters tease me all the time. They say, ‘Oh mum, you never remember anything.’ "
Arlene had to watch her father Abraham Phillips go through the horrific disease for 10 years of his life and has admitted it was "heartbreaking" seeing him lose himself.
She said: "My sister argues with this because she believes that he remembered us and our voices right till the last moment.
"But I can remember the very last time I went to see him – I went to see him in Leeds – and I wondered then, when I saw him, the light had gone from his eyes and I held on to him and that was the first time when I wasn’t sure. I always thought he’d hear my voice, he’ll know it’s me but it’s so very very hard to watch someone fade away really."
Arlene Phillips wants Alzheimer’s cure
