MELVYN Sellars was still in his forties when his family first noticed things were not quite right.

At the time he was a director of an engineering firm, part of a happy family and a member of Mensa.

But within a couple of years he had been diagnosed with early onset dementia, a form of Alzheimer’s that affects people under 65.

His family spotted he was forgetting how to perform simple tasks, like paying for something by credit card or putting up a washing line.

Daughter Kate Patience, a physiotherapist at Colchester General and Essex County hospitals, described coping with his gradual deterioration was like a constant grieving process for the family.

The 30-year-old is helping to organise the Colchester Memory Walk, a fundraising event taking place at Colchester Castle Park next month.

The Alzheimer’s Society event will see walks of a mile or longer ,along with tombola, raffle, face painting and a treasure hunt.

Money raised will go towards local support groups.

The day is also aimed at raising awareness of Alzheimer’s.

Mrs Patience, who lives in Elmstead Market with her husband Dominic and daughters Abigail, eight and Anna, three, said even people in the medical profession are surprised about what has happened to her dad.

She said: “A lot of people I work with are still shocked by his age.

“I did hear a doctor once say that the only young people to get Alzheimer’s were drinkers, which I thought was really hurtful.

“If you have been affected by it, you just know the absolute devastation, the grief and the loss.”

Mrs Patience first noticed something was wrong when she visited the family home in Merseyside for Christmas five years ago, shortly before she got married.

She said: “I bought my wedding dress and asked him for a cheque.

“The first thing I noticed was he couldn’t write the cheque.

“In April 2004, I got married. He hadn’t even thought about writing a speech for his own daughter’s wedding. He panicked and apparently spent the whole night writing it, and he did manage it.”

By this point he had lost his job as a director for civil engineering firm Curtins Consulting Engineering because of poor performance. He got another job but lost that too.

Five years ago, the day after Mr Sellars’ 51st birthday and following a series of tests with different doctors, he was diagnosed with early onset dementia.

Mrs Patience said: “It is becoming more and more prevalent in young people, but it was a shock to us. No-one in the family had it.

“It might have been caused by a car accident he had when he was younger, when he had a head injury. For an intelligent working man, it was incredibly frustrating.”

His marriage to his second wife, Kate’s stepmother, ended and he eventually moved in with Richard, his younger brother, in Lincoln. After that he lived on his own for a while, but eventually it became clear he could not cope.

Mrs Patience said: “When we saw him he could talk to us and we could have a conversation with him. He was not forgetful. It was more function.

“When he made a cup of tea he spent ten minutes trying to find a cup. He put the cup upside down and put a teabag on top, and didn’t notice something was wrong.

“We didn’t want to do everything for him, but at the same time we had to step in and intervene because it was dangerous. It got to a point a couple of years ago when he realised he couldn’t keep on his own.”

Mr Sellars moved to a nursing home in Lincoln for about a year, but in August last year, he took a turn for the worse.

He was moved to a residential home. He could not speak or walk, was incontinent and he did not recognise his family.

Mr Patience said: “Now, although he had a good couple of months when he was in a jolly mood, he’s in bed.

“He can answer yes or no if you ask him a direct question.

“If you put music on he sometimes plays the air guitar, and that’s it really.”

Mrs Patience said: “Every time we see him, something has gone wrong. You could hold his hand and walk with him, but then you couldn’t walk with him any more.

“It’s a constant bereavement, but with no closure. There’s nothing you can do. It’s not like he’s in pain, and you can give him something to stop it.

l To sign up for the Memory Walk, on Saturday, September 19, at 11am, visit memorywalk.org.uk