Was it Alzheimer's?

[Tony Summerfield]

I have been following this discussion, but haven't yet commented on anything that has been written, but as I disagree with much that has been written I thought I would add my two pennyworth!

Dealing with Michelle's post first, Anita is quite right. In her early days Enid smoked the occasional cigarette, but in later days didn't smoke at all and there is no way that smoking could have had any effect on her health. Nor was she a heavy drinker, so this would also have had no detrimental effect on her health.

I have always had strong doubts as to whether Enid had Alzheimer's and I have mentioned these in the past. Several year's ago I had a letter from one of our members whose job was nursing Alzheimer's patients, and she said that in her experience none of them would have been capable of doing some of the things that Enid did in her latter years. I discussed this at length with Barbara Stoney (who never mentioned Alzheimer's in any of her writing) and I have also discussed it with Imogen. Certainly Enid had a severe form of dementia and in her final months in the Nursing Home she was totally out of touch with reality.

Up to this point, however, she had some fairly lucid moments - I have a copy of a perfectly good letter that she wrote in December 1967 saying that it was sad spending her first Christmas at Green Hedges without Kenneth. We also know that she was interviewed by a Swedish (?) journalist in the spring of 1968. Some of her replies were muddled, but she was capable of giving such an interview. I am not aware of the precise medical details, but I understand that a specialist said that her dementia was caused by hardening of the arteries.

Admittedly some of her later books were sub standard, but other children's authors had the same problem in the twilight of their careers, to name just two examples, the last Biggles book by W E Johns and the last Lone Pine book by Malcolm Saville.

We will never know the exact position, but going on the evidence of what I have heard and read, I am not at all convinced about the convenient label that has been attached to her dementia.

[Julie2owlsdene]

Tony says:-

I have a copy of a perfectly good letter that she wrote in December 1967 saying that it was sad spending her first Christmas at Green Hedges without Kenneth.

Is the letter anywhere on the site that we could look at, Tony? It would be great to read it. A copy of a letter from Enid.

[Tony Summerfield]

No, Julie, it isn't on the website. I have numerous letters and copies of letters from Enid Blyton and I do put one or two into Journals occasionally, but there isn't really anywhere to put them on the website. Funnily enough I was reading a whole batch of Enid's letters to Noel Evans of Evans Brothers last night (from Barbara Stoney's archives). It was mostly to do with the forthcoming publication of the first Six Cousins book, but one thing particularly caught my eye. She mentioned that Sampson Low had just published The Third Holiday Book and they were going to have to reprint as all 100,000 copies had sold out within a week and they didn't have a single copy left. She added that she was surprised as the book was priced at 12/6 - in today's terms this would be over £20!! I am sure that some of our current Children's authors would be amazed that a print run of that size could sell out in under a week!

[Anita Bensoussane]

She mentioned that Sampson Low had just published The Third Holiday Book and they were going to have to reprint as all 100,000 copies had sold out within a week and they didn't have a single copy left. She added that she was surprised as the book was priced at 12/6 - in today's terms this would be over £20!! I am sure that some of our current Children's authors would be amazed that a print run of that size could sell out in under a week!

Crumbs! I can only assume that parents were buying The Third Holiday Book in readiness for Christmas, and that such a book would have counted as one of their children's main presents.

[Daisy]

Crumbs! I can only assume that parents were buying The Third Holiday Book in readiness for Christmas, and that such a book would have counted as one of their children's main presents.

That's right! It kept us quiet for the rest of the day!

[Moonraker]

Is it possible to die of a coronary thrombosis, peacefully in one's sleep?

Happily, it is. Both my parent died in this way, for which I am eternally grateful

The term, Coronary Thrombosis (literally meaning a heart blood clot) is a rather old-fashioned term and not used much today - in England, at least. It is another term for a heart attack, or MI - Myocardial Infarction, which literally means, death of part of the heart muscle. The outcome for the patient is decided by the severity of the infarct and the part of the heart affected. Many patients have an MI and, due to medication and life-style changes, carry on to live happily for many, many years. Another patient might sadly die of his first heart attack.

Smoking certainly contributes to arteriosclerosis - a hardening of the arteries, and should be avoided at all costs. Other factors include stress and diet - cholesterol levels need to be checked and kept low as this can 'fur-up' the linings of the arteries. A result can be a part breaking off, and then it continues into the coronary arteries where it blocks one, and depending on which artery it is, can cause a fatal result.

Angina is a warning that the vessels are narrowing, and the effects are treated with GTN - either as a spray or a tablet which is placed under the tongue. Again, with successful treatment and lifestyle atention, many years of life can be achieved in spite of having these conditions.

This is the same instance with men as they advance in age, sooner or later, most of them will develop prostate cancer

Thanks, Stephen! Fortunately, this is a little exaggerated! Prostate cancer, if diagnosed early, can be cured - either by treatment or surgery. Ten-year survival rates for prostate cancer have increased from 21% in the mid-1970s to around 60% for men diagnosed in 1996-2000 in England.

The normal risk of getting prostate cancer some time in your life is 1 in 13, so it isn't correct to say that "most men will develop prostate cancer".

For those of us who are male aand concerned about the disease, AIRC has some interesting facts to savour.

[Green Hedges]

Not sure that what's been posted here about heart conditions is very relevant. Barbara Stoney says that Enid may have had a heart attack in the late 50s, but she also says that it might not have been anything as serious as that. Also, as far as I'm aware Enid didn't die of a heart condition (Matt, where did you get the info that prompted you to post on another website that she died of a coronary thrombosis?) As far as I know Enid wasn't botherd with a heart condition in her last few years.

On the other hand there is so much more to be said about the dementia that undoubtedly led to her relatively early death. Imogen ends her books with 2 moving pages about what she calls Enid's "pre-senile dementia", which is an out-of-date term. She mentions Enid's final psychiatrist, the one who told Imogen what her mother's last words were. Who was this person? People may not have cared about Enid's final months when she died, but there would be plenty interest in what she said or did in that period now. If we knew who he was and he was still alive, we could ask him!

In the light of how confused Enid was in her final years (according to Imogen), as Julia has indicated, it really would be of interest to read the lucid letter you refer to, Tony. Could you possibly transcribe it into this thread? That would be very helpful. Also, where can the Swedish interview you refer to be read? For all we know, Kenneth or some other member of the family may have cobbled together answers to a written questionnaire and sent them to Sweden by post. Or are the responses handwritten? The Mystery of the Last Interview. The mystery being that by the time it took place Enid may not have been able to distinguish between Noddy, Fatty and Mr Twiddle in a police line-up. For me it doesn't matter how mixed up she got. Because at one stage she had an unusually imaginative and powerful mind, it is of interst to know what happened within that mind as it lost its powers.

George Greenfield, Enid's literary agent, talks of Enid having Alzheimer's and gives an example going back to 1960 or 1961 (I don't have the book to hand). Barbara Stoney talks about Enid, near the end of her life, wanting her brother to take her back to Beckenham, where she enjoyed an idyllic childhood. My own mother now constantly refers to the house she lived in for the first thirty years of her life and her memories of that time are well preserved. That seems to be typical of dementia and I think it's a great pity that no-one seems to have listened to Enid as her demetia took hold, as much of what she had to say is likely to have been 'new', (about her background), revealing (about what she went on to write) and, of course, poignant.

[Matthew Roberts]

(Matt, where did you get the info that prompted you to post on another website that she died of a coronary thrombosis?)

It is a while ago now, but I am almost certain that I asked Tony, who consulted Barbara Stoney, who had Enid's death certificate.

[Tony Summerfield]

Absolutely right, Matt, I remember it too - just, but my memory isn't as good as yours!!

[Moonraker]

Having any form of dementia naturally doesn't mean you will die of it. It is the usual things that carry you off - pneumonia, an MI, a CVA and so on.

Blimey, it's depressing, getting old!

[Matthew Roberts]

It is the usual things that carry you off...

A cough?

I think that was what prompted me to ask Tony for the actual cause of death, as I wasn't sure I understood how someone could die from dementia itself. But maybe you can.

Tony, I am glad I remembered it right. My memory is usually atrocious!

[Green Hedges]

Strange that Barbara Stoney, a meticulous biographer, didn't mention the cause of death in her official biography. But you can't do better than refer to the death certificate as seems to have subsequently happened!

I've just re-read what BS wrote about Enid's health in later years. The attack Enid suffered from in 1957 she herself suspected was a heart attack, but the specialist that Kenneth brought in was sure it was a digestive malfunction. BS then speculates as to why Kenneth told Imogen and Gillian that their mother had had a heart attack. The breathlessness that was a symptom of the first attack then came back later. BS does not speculate as to whether this was a return of the digestive malady or heart trouble.

Back to dementia, which was the condition that curtailed Enid's writing career and so is of great interest. A couple of people have mentioned to me that there was an interview with a 59-year-old on Woman's Hour this week. She was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's a few years ago and she has been in a care home for four years. (I think because she gets lost easily, and has memory loss so fundamental that it means she can't look after herself.) She was a lecturer before she became ill (and for a few years following her diagnosis) and she can still talk perfectly lucidly about her life. Apparently, listening to her on the radio one would not have guessed that in certain respects her mind had lost important abilities. So, I suppose that is evidence to support the fact that Enid could still write a letter that made sense, and take part in an interview with some success, despite, it seems, having had Alzheimer's for several years by then.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Some people with Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia do indeed live for many years with the illness, even when it's severe enough for them to require full-time care. Enid Blyton's mother Theresa suffered from dementia and apparently spent the last 20 years of her life in a care home, according to the 1996 Secret Lives TV programme. That means she would only have been about 56 when she went to live in the home.

[Moonraker]

Of the over 85s, 1 in 4 (1 in 12 of the over 65s) now have a form of dementia. Isn't that scary?

[Enikyoga]

In the final book in the Find Outers series, The Mystery of Banshee Towers, there is an extra character. Let's call her 'Dementia'. Dementia surely accounts for Superintendent Jenks being demoted to Inspector. Dementia no doubt accounts for Fatty being so slow on the uptake throughout. That sad book was published in August 1961. If Enid had written another FFO book I do believe Goon would have solved the mystery himself and had the last laugh on Enid's precious and beloved Fatty. Thank goodness that didn't happen.

So another fellow writer on Enid Blyton, Green Hedges (aka Duncan McLaren) is in agreement with me that Enid Blyton satirized her dementia problems in a couple of her books. Thus, I guess I am vindicated in this assertion!!!
Stephen isabirye