TULLY SMYTH: Her new role as Ambassador for Dementia Australia

Dementia is the second leading cause of death of all Australians and the leading cause of death of Australian women.

Tully Smyth has a deeply personal connection to the disease - her mum, Kay, was diagnosed with Younger Onset Dementia when Tully was just 15. 

Tully joins Britt & Laura to chat about the signs to look out for, whether there is a way to cure dementia and how she's honouring her mum by being an Ambassador for Dementia Australia. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
High Heart podcasts, heem More Kiss podcast playlist and listen
live on the free iHeart app. We're taking a little
bit of a serious tone for this next part because
you guys might remember Tally smythe She's from Big Brother
back in twenty thirteen and still has such a big
presence across social media herself. But she was just recently
announced as an ambassador for Dementia Australia. Now this is

(00:34):
an incredibly and deeply personal reasons why she's chosen to
become an ambassador. But Britt, I'm not sure if you
had read it, but Tully wrote the most incredible piece
for Mother's Day that was in El magazine and it
was all around her relationship with her mum, A letter
to her mum.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
I did, and it was truly touching, so moving and
just one of the most beautiful things I've read in
a really long time.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
Yeah. Absolutely, And the statistics around dementia something we don't
talk about much at all, but truly something that affects
women predominantly.

Speaker 3 (01:06):
It is harrowing.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
I myself, I've lost my great Arnie and also my
Nanna to dementia. It's something that permeates my family Tully,
It's so nice to be able to welcome you to
the pickup.

Speaker 4 (01:16):
Thank you so much, guys, thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
When you message me about this as well. The stats
and the statistics around how it disproportionately affects women was
something that I wasn't even aware of.

Speaker 3 (01:27):
Can you give us some of the background of what
that looks like.

Speaker 4 (01:30):
Yeah, so right now, there's an estimated at four hundred
and thirty three thousand, three hundred Australians living with dementia
and that number is expected to double by twenty fifty four.
So that's some pretty you know, huge stats. It's currently
the leading cause of death for females here in Australia
and there are about thirty thousand people who are under

(01:52):
the age of sixty five like my mum was, So
they're pretty huge stats that I don't feel like many
people know about.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
You know, Tully, there'll be so many people listening to
this driving around in their cars who will have a
family member or someone that they love who's been affected
by dementia. What were the signs in your mum when
you were so young? Because early onset, I feel like
it's a whole different ballgame. I think often it can
be chopped up to being like tired or being forgetful.

(02:20):
What were the early signs that you remember your mum
experiencing and the reasons why you know she sought out diagnosis.

Speaker 4 (02:27):
Well, that's the thing, you know, when you're fifteen, you're
so self obsessed. So it's definitely now in hindsight looking back,
that those signs are more clear to me. But it
was stuff like that. It was little things that you
put down to her being a busy mum. You know,
she had three kids, she worked a full time job.
But stuff like you know, coming home from the shops
and putting the third bottle of milk in the fridge.

(02:49):
We already had two bottles. She had forgotten that she'd
bought one and bought another one.

Speaker 2 (02:55):
But then that's not enough for you to it doesn't
raise alarm bells, right, you're like the stilling mom, like
you know, you forget everything, but you don't think at
that age.

Speaker 3 (03:02):
And so how old was she at that time?

Speaker 4 (03:05):
She was fifty one, right, So it was definitely more
the mood changes. That's kind of when we knew, okay,
something to miss here. She went from being pretty positive, happy,
go lucky to very defensive, short temper, just really ready
for an argument, ready to fight. And that's kind of
when we sort of thought, Okay, something to miss here, Tellie.

Speaker 1 (03:25):
I think, you know, for anyone who's experienced to mention
their family with someone that they really love, it's the
grief of losing them before you lose them like that,
I think most people can relate to. And we were
talking about it before and it made me really teary
because I remember with my my Nan, who I was
so incredibly close with. Her dementia stemmed over a really
long period of time, and it was this slow decay to.

Speaker 3 (03:46):
Eventually getting to a place where, let.

Speaker 4 (03:52):
Me cry, where they just don't know who you are.

Speaker 3 (03:55):
Yeah, I'm sorry. Yeah, that's like the hardest thing I think.

Speaker 2 (03:59):
To deal with.

Speaker 4 (04:00):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, I mean it was insane, you know,
at first, it takes them so quickly. I went to
Union Bath first, and I remember being home one weekend
and Mom was still talking. She still you know, her
eyes would light after if I came towards her, I said,
you know, hi, Mama. I gave her a hug, and
I went back to UNI that week, and by the
time I came back home that following weekend. She'd stop talking,

(04:23):
so initially it stole her quickly. I can't remember the
last time she said my name. I can't remember last
time she said I love you. But then the thing
about early on set is that her body was so fit,
physically fit, and she was so young. So then it
was a long slog seventeen years she had dementia, but
she was gone so long before then.

Speaker 2 (04:45):
I have a question, if there's the genetic link, do
you worry that this is something that's going to happen
to you.

Speaker 4 (04:52):
One hundred percent that that's probably.

Speaker 3 (04:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (04:55):
That sits really really heavy on my chest every day, I,
you know, would do something she really like, lock myself
out of the house, and I was think, oh, here
we go.

Speaker 3 (05:04):
It started right.

Speaker 4 (05:06):
It's huge, and especially now you know I'm old, I'm
thirty seven, you start thinking about having kids, and you know,
I froze my eggs, so I get my eggs tested.
It's very heavy in my chest every single day. But
I personally have decided not to get the genetic tests
just because I want to live my life like every

(05:26):
day's my last. Anyway, we all should be doing that.
We all should be living our life to the fullest,
and I could go get tested and get the big
awful diagnosis and then get hit by a truck tomorrow,
do you know.

Speaker 3 (05:36):
What I mean?

Speaker 4 (05:37):
Like, we just don't know what life has in store
for us, so that may change, But right now, I'm
just choosing to live my life to the fullest and
really embrace and enjoy every single moment like my mom
did before my diagnosis.

Speaker 1 (05:52):
Tally, thank you for coming and being a part of
the show and for raising awareness for such a really
truly important cause that affects so many Australians.

Speaker 3 (05:59):
Yeah, thanks for joining to pick up No.

Speaker 4 (06:01):
Thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 1 (06:02):
Guys,