A HUSBAND has vowed to continue raising the profile of the disease which killed his wife.

Former Blackburn teacher Moira Coggins bravely battled Alzheimer's for 18 years before dying last month, aged 63.

Her husband David paid tribute to her courage in fighting against it for so long and said: "She wasn't the sort of person to give in or give up. She did as much as she could for as long as she could."

Qualified as a teacher in art and English, Moira taught at St Anthony's Primary School, Our Lady and St John's and St Augustine's in Billington as well as Blackburn College. She also worked in the library at St Mary's College.

The mother-of-two, who lived at Lammack Road, was a brilliant linguist fluent in Dutch, German, French and Italian. She was a lover of literature and also taught English to children of the armed forces in Germany.

Mr Coggins said: "She was a very calming person to be with. A lot of people with Alzheimer's can become very aggressive and agitated.

"Moira went through an agitated phase but she was never aggressive. Right to the end she was very placid and a very dignified woman. She retained her dignity throughout her illness. Often Alzheimer's takes that away from people.

"Typically a lot of people say to me something like people with Alzheimer's are not the same people you married. That has never been my experience because despite years of dementia taking hold her essence was still there right up until the end."

He revealed that it was during a family holiday to Venice in 1987 that he first noticed a difference in his wife when she had no interest in speaking in Italian Two years later she was forced to give up her job and in 1990 doctors diagnosed her with Early Onset Alzheimer's Disease.

In the summer of 1995 Moira was admitted to Whitecliffe Care Centre in East Park Road, Blackburn, where she stayed until she died.

During that time her husband left his own teaching post at St Mary's College, where he taught art for 25 years, to dedicate his time to awareness and fundraising.

Moira leaves two children, Jane, a medical herbalist practitioner in Darwen and Matthew, a lawyer.