‘I'M DETERMINED NOT TO BE SAD'

Author and farmer Rachael Thomas, 53, lives in West Wales and her mum, Kathryn Smith, 75, lives in a care home in Worcester. My family and I were forced to move my mum, Kathryn, into a care home in November 2019, just before the pandemic, when her Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia got too bad for her partner or my family to deal with at home.

I live in West Wales with my husband James and our son David, 23. I also have a 25-year-old daughter, Marian, who lives away. Meanwhile, my mum is a three-hour drive away in a care home near her partner, in Worcester. For this reason, I’ve only seen my mum twice since the first lockdown in March last year. We have the odd telephone call and FaceTime, but she doesn’t understand the concept of technology, so it’s difficult.