My mom has dementia — she’s thrilled to ‘meet’ her grandkids every day

Like any other grandparent, Josie Hunt excitedly gives her grandchildren a loving hug when she sees them.

The sad difference is that the 65-year-old Australian woman suffers from an alcohol-induced form of dementia called Korsakoff syndrome — and thinks she’s meeting the children for the first time each time they visit.

“It’s a bittersweet moment when she sees the kids,” her 35-year-old daughter, Jade Mead, told SWNS.

Mead, a fitness instructor from Perth, said when she takes her children, Marli, 3, and Lottie, 3 months, to see Hunt, she always replies: “Jade, you didn’t tell me you had children.”

Mead added that she doesn’t remember her sister, Hayley Hunt, 41, has a baby either.


Older woman blonde hair holding tiny baby.
Josie Hunt with her granddaughter Lottie.
Jade Mead / SWNS

Olde4r woman with blonde hair with a blonde toddler and infant.
Her condition means she forgets she has grandchildren.
Jade Mead / SWNS

Older woman blonde hair standing next to younger woman blonde hair who is holding baby.
Hunt with her daughter, Jade Mead, 35.
Jade Mead / SWNS

Mead believes her mother developed Korsakoff syndrome after drinking alcohol following a gastric sleeve operation in February 2020.

Her condition deteriorated quickly, Mead said, and she was officially diagnosed with the memory disorder in October 2020.

“I believe it stemmed from the gastric sleeve operation,” the mom of two explained.

“Her health started declining from there, [and] she looked so frail,” Mead continued. “She had been drinking alcohol, which we didn’t know about, and you shouldn’t do that.”


Black and white photo of blonde haired woman and dark haired man holding tiny baby.
Mead has two children: Marli, 3, and Lottie, 3 months.
Jade Mead / SWNS

Blonde woman in black activewear with pram on footpath near beach.
Mead said Hunt’s reaction is bittersweet when the children visit.
Jade Mead / SWNS

Korsakoff syndrome results from vitamin B1 deficiency and is associated with alcoholism.

It damages nerve cells and supporting cells in the brain and spinal cord, as well as the part of the brain involved with memory, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

Mead said she’s been told her mom shouldn’t decline further — at least for a while.

“My 3-year-old doesn’t ask any questions, but I just tell her, ‘Nanny forgets,’” she shared. “She’s always been very loving.”