FAMILY MATTERS
BBC Breakfast’s Nina Warhurst moves fans with poignant clip of dad with dementia as he bonds with her baby daughter
Nina also has a social media account called Dementia Adventures where documents her dad’s diagnosis
BBC Breakfast presenter Nina Warhurst moved fans with a poignant video of her dad Chris bonding with her sixth-month-old daughter Nancy.
Nina, 43, revealed her dad Chris was diagnosed with mixed dementia, which is Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia, in 2022.
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Nina, 43, revealed her dad Chris was diagnosed with mixed dementia, which is Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia, in 2022.
Since then, she has shared regular updates about her dad’s dementia battle on social media and often speaks about how babies and children can be a fantastic tonic for people suffering from dementia.
Nina loves sharing heartwarming moments between her dad Chris and her children, and shared a series of clips of Chris and Nancy together on Instagram.
She explained that the pair share a “special bond” despite Chris’ diagnosis and that they love spending time together.
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Initially posting the clips to her story, Nina then reposed them as a video on her main grid alongside the caption, “Grandad chats are the best.”
Fans were so moved by the video and flooded her comments with support.
One gushed: “How special. She looks like your dad.”
“This is lovely. My mum has dementia and my 2-month-old grandson brings her so much joy. Her eyes light up and she chats away to him. It’s a special bond,” added another.
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A third said: Absolutely beautiful. I sadly lost my wonderful mother-in-law to this cruel disease, sending you and your family lots of love.”
“Your dad’s warmth shines through,” a fourth fan praised.
“Good to see your dad looking as well as can be in the circumstances Nina,” a fifth agreed, while a sixth observed their “beautiful bond.”
Nina documents her family’s experience with dementia online
Nina has opened up about Chris’ dementia, sadly revealing that there have been times where “he couldn’t quite place [her].”
However, the BBC Breakfast presenter and her family have done their best to adapt to it and they have an Instagram account called Dementia Adventures, which chronicles their family’s journey with Chris.
What are the main signs of Dementia?
Nina Warhurst regularly speaks about her dad's Dementia diagnosis - here are the main signs:
Dementia symptoms vary depending on the cause. But common signs and symptoms include:
- Cognitive changes
- Memory loss, which is usually noticed by a spouse or someone else
- Confusion and disorientation, such as not knowing the place or time
- Difficulty:
- Communicating or finding words
- Following a conversation
- With visual and spatial abilities, such as getting lost while driving
- Reasoning or problem-solving
- Handling complex tasks
- Planning and organising
- With coordination and motor functions - Psychological changes
- Personality changes such as:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Inappropriate behaviour
- Paranoia
- Agitation
- Hallucinations
Nina previously opened up BBC Radio 5 Live about how her family has changed. “What’s been an eye-opener for us is that once we’ve shifted to adapt it into our lives, you can have happy times again,” she said.
“So you’re learning to live alongside it and yes, you feel like you’re standing on shifting sand quite a lot, but you can have those lovely times.
“Those connections remain [but] you are in many ways saying goodbye to someone very incrementally and that’s hard,” she added.
How many children does Nina have?
Nina gave birth to her third child, a daughter named Nancy, with her husband Ted at the beginning of July last year.
The couple are also parents to two boys, Digby and Michael.
Nina has shared plenty of updates about life with a newborn after revealing that he had a difficult pregnancy and labour with Nancy, who they affectionately call Nance.
BBC Breakfast's Nina Warhurst shares poignant video tribute to dad battling dementia
“It’s been haaaard tho! A harder pregnancy. A tougher delivery and a longer recovery… maybe it’s being older… but also I’d somehow forgotten,” she wrote in a candid Instagram post.
“I’d forgotten the anxiety of labour moving from the plan. I’d forgotten the swollen scars, bleeding breasts, mastitis fever, hormonal crashes, clots, constipation, codeine withdrawal, exhaustion…. And this time the added funk of a nose bleed (y tho?!)
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“But part of getting older is getting better aquatinted (sic) with your limits and letting go. I’m better at stopping and saying no to visitors and yes to a messy house and yes to asking for help. (A turning point was full snot crying down the phone to the GP - resulting in a glorious prescription of kind words, antibiotics, painkillers and a follow-up call about how I was coping.)”
She concluded: “Women and their bodies (parents or not) are complex and resilient, that it fills me with immense pride. I can’t wait to tell you all about it, my sweet girl.”
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