Tony Hiles

Tony Hiles, one of our first and valued participants in our program was diagnosed with Dementia with Lewy Bodies in September 2018, and sadly passed away on the 6th of February 2021.
Tony’s legacy was to raise awareness and understanding of the disease, establishing his own website to document his experiences, which you can visit here.

Dementia with Lewy Bodies is similar to alzheimers disease in that it is caused by the degeneration and death of nerve cells in the brain. Lewy bodies are tiny protein deposits found in nerve cells and their presence disrupts the brain’s normal functioning, interrupting the action of important chemical messengers including acetylcholine and dopamine. Dementia with Lewy Bodies is more common in men, and is thought to contribute to 25-30% of all dementia diagnosis’. (Dementia NZ)