Nerve remembers Gina Shaw who campaigned for more awareness of dementia as well as being a nurse, organiser, activist and extraordinary human being.

The Nerve interview with Gina Shaw was written soon after her dementia diagnosis eight years ago. I don’t want to repeat any of it here, except to say what a privilege it was to be able to document her thoughts and life to that point.

To really know Gina, if you don’t already, I think you need to know what is missing from that interview. I knew enough of her at the time to anticipate a lack of focus on her own challenges. What was unexpected, and I didn’t include, was her bullying determination to talk me through my own experience of dementia within the family. As much as I had tried to understand the condition, it was Gina’s empathy and knowledge, matched with a fierce drive to make these qualities count, that became the grounding and reference point for me from that point on. Going through this journey with family or friend isn’t easy, but I faced it with a practical energy that wasn’t natural to me. It began with that conversation with Gina.

I didn’t see her that many times after, but I know it was a struggle for her to be cared for. Her life had been about making a difference. Maybe as her memory faded, she began to relax with a sense of all the change she had been a part of. Gina Shaw; nurse, organiser, activist, extraordinary human being.

Gina’s funeral is on Wednesday 12th April at 10 am at Springwood Crematorium, Springwood Ave, Allerton, Liverpool L25 7UN.