'I was always placid and quiet but then I became the angriest person in the world'

A DAD said his personality completely changed before he was diagnosed with young-onset dementia.

- By RYAN PATON & TOM PRATTEN

Tom Hinde was in his mid fifties when he was diagnosed with a rare form of dementia that affects 11 in every 10,000 people between the ages of 30 and 65.

The condition leads to memory problems, changes in mood and personality, confusion and communication difficulties. But Tom, from Ellesmere Port, has refused to be beaten by the diagnosis and is determined to raise awareness of the condition as one of the co-hosts of the Fighting Dementia podcast.

Now 63, Tom previously worked out at sea as a pumpman on oceangoing vessels and told the ECHO he would often find himself repeating tasks on the ship that he had already done. However, it was when he came home in 2018 that he started showing more signs of his illness.

Tom said: “My personality completely changed. I was never a violent or angry person, I went from being a placid and quiet person to be the angriest person in the world. My wife and son took all of it. I wasn’t physically violent with them, but emotionally violent and shouting.”