'I put my symptoms down to age - I wasn't prepared for the truth'

ANGELA and David Llewellyn are one of those couples you long to be.

- RUTH MOSALSKI

The smiles, the love, the silent understanding between them just radiates. What doesn’t show, immediately at least, is the trauma, pain and uncertainty that has come their way in the past three years.

In November 2022, aged 73, Angela was told she had Parkinson's.

Two years on, there are physical hints of the impact the condition has on her, such as when she points out the sticks she uses to walk, or asks David for help remembering a word.

It is then you start to realise the battle she has on a day-to-day basis.

There has been no rapid deterioration in her health or her symptoms. She believes this is because she was put on medication quickly.

“I feel a little more shaky inside, but I haven't got a tremor, which is good, but my thinking has got slower, I'm not engaging, and I feel I’m losing my smile,” she said.

While she still has her independence and still drives, everyday things like making a drink or going to the shop and paying at the till can take her longer. She finds it hard not being able to put her own earrings in or do her eye make-up as she used to.

She’s gone from being an avid walker to not being able tackle the Preseli hills. Before her diagnosis with Parkinson's, she and David completed all 186 miles of the Pembrokeshire Coast Path National Trail - a 186-mile stretch of the Wales Coast Path.

“It’s sad to think that I won't be able to do that again’, Angela said. Now, she can do around 5,000 steps before getting tired and can no longer manage hills due to her balance.

“I sometimes feel angry about it all. We can’t travel abroad like we used to and my balance can sometimes be weak, so I use a mobility stick” she said.