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Jeanne Little’s family says her condition has deteriorated

Family says Jeanne Little "no longer knows where she is or what's going on around her".

2014-08-26_0120Sad to hear the health of TV darling Jeanne Little, 76, has deteriorated with her family revealing her Alzheimer’s condition has become so bad she “no longer knows where she is or what’s going on around her”.

Little, who shot to fame on The Mike Walsh Show in the 1970s, was diagnosed with the illness in 2009.

Husband Barry Little told Nine, “She doesn’t recognise anyone, really. She might say a word out of nowhere and laugh and then suddenly you see a glimmer of the old Jeanne once more.”

Her daughter Katie visits her mother in a nursing home.

“Usually when I go to see mum I always arrange to bring someone else with me otherwise it’s depressing as hell,” Ms Little said.

“That way there is a conversation going on around her and she can sense that buzz. Sometimes she’ll even perk up a bit because I think somewhere in her head it’s registering.”

The family admit that early signs of Alzheimers were not noticed or were misunderstood.

“It started a few years before then but we didn’t pick it up because she’s so zany anyway,” Barry Little said.

“But now when you look back you realise all these little things, like she’d bump into a table and forget it was there, or she’d walk into things and forget they were there. It all makes sense now.”

He now says the woman he calls “the light of my life” exists only in memory.

“It is horrible to see someone so vital and alive go from that to sitting in a chair all day and needing to be washed and cared for,” he said.

“But she is still so beautiful. There’s not a line on her face.”

Jeanne Little won a Gold Logie in 1976.

6 Responses

  1. Sad news. I’ve always loved Jeannie and it’s a shame that she no longer remembers all the joy she has brought us. Thoughts are with her family. #ilovejeannie

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