AN ISLE of Wight vlogger has joined the call to raise awareness of vascular dementia.

Claire Sells, 44, knows all too well the heartbreak the crippling condition can cause, having seen her late mother, Marianne, degenerate ­— robbed of her memory and dignity.

“We’d go shopping and she’d wander off and not tell me ­— and I’d turn around and she wouldn’t be there," said Claire.

Marianne became forgetful and started hallucinating ­— describing people and objects that weren’t there.

She experienced a great deal of confusion before she was diagnosed with vascular dementia at a care home, losing her battle in 2017, aged 85.

Marianne was writing a book about her life in Sussex during the Second World War, but was unable to finish as her condition worsened.

To honour her mother’s effort, Claire compiled and self-published the book.

The experience has urged Claire to fundraise for the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and raise awareness for vascular dementia.

Marianne’s story is one of thousands the BHF is shining a light on with a new campaign to urgently boost funding into research to find new ways to prevent and treat the disease.

While vascular dementia is associated with getting older, it can affect people of all ages.

By 2050, the number of people living with vascular dementia is predicted to double.

Dr Sonya Babu-Narayan, associate medical director at the BHF, said: “Little progress has been made in treating dementia.

"Funding research to better understand the relationship between heart and circulatory diseases and vascular dementia could prove crucial in finding new ways to prevent and treat this condition.”