A BRIDGWATER woman who has dementia is looking to change perceptions of people with the condition by taking on a trek of Africa's highest mountain.

Avril Staunton, 62, had her life turned upside down when she was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease in 2015, but now she is planning to scale Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania in March.

She will be travelling with her husband Michael, a doctor who oversees medical assessments for the army. Prior to her own diagnosis, Avril worked as a senior consultant in obstetrics and gynaecology, but it was soon after she was headhunted for a job in Germany her condition came to light.

Following a six-week trial period, she was told she wouldn't be kept on in the role and they said she should go back to the UK and get checked out.

Having had no idea that anything was the matter, this all came as a great surprise to Avril.

"It was an absolute blow to the belly - I spent two days recuperating from the shock," she says.

Avril had tests in the UK and was diagnosed with atypical early-onset Alzheimer's disease in early 2015.

Avril generally lives well with her condition, but feels guilty when her memory problems have an impact upon others.

"I'm sorry for the people who I forget. If I've said I would see somebody and I forget about it, things like that," she says.

"I don't like that, because I'm letting somebody down when I've always been rock solid."

As well as working in the UK, Germany and United Arab Emirates, Avril was one of the first female medical officers in the British Army.

The couple want to recruit other people with dementia to join the Kilmanjaro trip to prove that they can still complete such challenges, while also raising money.

"There are all sorts of different people that I've met over my lifetime who have just done things that you supposedly shouldn't do - it's all doable," says Avril.

Michael added: "Once you've been labelled, you've been labelled, so you're obviously not going to go up Kilimanjaro, people think.

"I think we need to expect more of people with these conditions, there needs to be a change in the mindset of those giving treatment, not just writing people off."

"It's good if you can get a whole load of people together and get them doing something that they wouldn't really have thought about before."

The couple hope that there would be other benefits for people completing the trek.

"Michael has always believed that if you put somebody on a mountain you can get them going, you can get them healthy," says Avril.

"Obviously there are certain things that are not going to get better, but other things may well be helped a lot.

"I'm really looking forward to it, I'm very excited."