Wendy Mitchell (activist)
English dementia awareness activist (1956–2024)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wendy Patricia Mitchell (31 January 1956 – 22 February 2024) was an English writer and a dementia activist.
Biography
Mitchell was born in Wakefield, West Yorkshire as Wendy Patricia Draper.[1] She grew up in her family's pub and was a sportswoman during her school years in Pontefract.[2] She later became a fell-walker in the Lake District.[2]
Mitchell raised her two daughters as a single mother while working as a cleaner and later in administrative roles within the NHS.[2][1] After being diagnosed with dementia, she retired from her position as a rota manager at Leeds General Infirmary.[2] She then campaigned for workplaces to support employees newly diagnosed with dementia.[2]
In retirement, Mitchell pursued writing and photography, capturing local wildlife in her village of Walkington.[2] She contributed to various organizations, including Innovations in Dementia and York Minds and Voices, and advised on the BBC TV series Casualty and the film Still Alice (2014).[2] Throughout her life, Mitchell authored three books.[1][2]
Mitchell raised funds for Dementia UK through annual challenges, which included skydiving, firewalking, and wing walking.[2] She chose to end her life through the voluntarily stopping eating and drinking (VSED), a topic she discussed in her book One Last Thing.[2] In her final blog post, she expressed her belief that she had taken control of her own life and urged others to campaign for assisted dying laws.[2]
She died on 22 February 2024, at the age of 68.[1]
Bibliography
Her published works are:[1][2][3]
- Mitchell, Wendy (2018). Somebody I used to know. Ballantine Books. ISBN 9781524797911.
- Mitchell, Wendy (2022). What I wish people knew about dementia: from someone who knows. Bloomsbury. ISBN 9781526634481.
- Mitchell, Wendy (2023). One last thing: how to live with the end in mind. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. ISBN 9781526658753.