A MAN who made headlines after his dementia-suffering wife was discharged from hospital in nothing but a nightgown has written a book about dealing with her illness.

Terry Dawson, 81, of Appleby, hopes the e-book about the mental decline of wife, Sylvia Dawson, will help others also dealing with a loved one with the disease.

He is donating all income it generates to the Alzheimer's Association which carries out research.

"I think there should be a lot more help out there," he said.

"I got a lot of help from social services and mental health people as the condition developed but at the beginning there was no indication of how it was going to change everyone's lives - mine, my wife's and our families'."

Sylvia Dawson, now 78, had to be moved into a residential care home just days after the incident last year, when she was discharged from the Cumberland Infirmary, Carlisle, in just a nightdress.

She was sent to the wrong address with no chaperone other than the taxi driver and the hospital was later forced to "apologise wholeheartedly".

Following the incident, Cumbria Social Services asked Mr Dawson to write an account of his wife's dementia. The original 11 pages generated a lot of interest and was turned into a longer read.

"It contains a lot more information than just that about her dementia," he continued.

"I want to remember her as she was, rather than how she has become.

"But there is a lot about her illness too."

The story of how they navigated the 'remorselessly destructive' world of dementia is now available for download from www.amazon.co.uk