Print This PostA couple of weeks ago, many of us were startled and upset to hear of the sudden passing of Private Eye cartoonist and former carer for his father, Tony Husband. Tony has been the author/illustrator of two books on dementia, starting with Take Care, Son in 2014 and more recently United, with Gina Awad. Last time I checked on amazon, there were less than a dozen copies available of his first book.
How did his journey of illustrating dementia and caring for someone start? I had the privilege of meeting Tony at a conference a couple of years ago, and of speaking to him on The Ageing Scientist podcast about this. His father developed dementia and to cope with the experience, Tony started to draw a few cartoons. He shared them with a close friend, who suggested to him to make them into a book, that’s how good they were. Considering the still evident lack of awareness and understanding of dementia in the general population, creating a book with illustrations about his father’s dementia journey, and his journey as a carer, is incredibly valuable. He poignantly captured his and other people’s dementia journeys, all of which are unique but also similar on some ways, and offered an outlet for those experiences to cope with and for others to learn from.
Tony also used his skills to capture dementia events and research in cartoons, such as for a study on Neighbourhoods and dementia, as well as for Third Sector organisation Together in Dementia Everyday (TIDE). Tony was about to be a keynote speaker at this week’s 5th annual Liverpool Dementia & Ageing Research Conference, which saw over 120 attendees descend upon the Northern city and discuss dementia research and care practices. In memory of his fantastic work, we shared some of his cartoons, including two he had purposefully sent us ahead of the conference to print out for the tables, and Ruth Eley from TIDE also spoke a few words about drawings he did for the organisation.
Tony will be missed within the dementia community, and his satirical cartoons of politicians of course as well, but he has left a lasting legacy to show how one can raise awareness by being creative.
Dr Clarissa Giebel
Author
Dr Clarissa Giebel is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Liverpool and NIHR ARC North West Coast. Clarissa has been working in dementia care research for over 10 years focusing her research on helping people with dementia to live at home independently and well for longer, addressing inequalities that people with dementia and carers can face. Outside of her day work, Clarissa has also organised a local dementia network – the Liverpool Dementia & Ageing Research Forum, and has recently started her own podcast called the Ageing Scientist.
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