Homeworker Jenny Jackson accepted on dementia drug trial

Travel Counsellors agent Jenny Jackson has been accepted on to a trial for sufferers of vascular dementia.

Jackson, who has been a travel agent for 27 years and is also the administrator of closed Facebook group Travel Agent Rants and Raves, was diagnosed in 2023.

The trial, conducted at Hammersmith Hospital, is for a drug aimed at preventing the narrowing of the arteries – one of the primary causes of vascular dementia.

Jackson, who continues to work full-time as a homeworker despite her diagnosis, will be one of about 80 people on the trial, which takes over a period of around four months.

“It’s a great opportunity. If it can’t help me then it will help others. To get a break-through would be amazing,” said Jackson. She was chosen after putting herself on a list for drug trials.

Jackson, who has also suffered two brain aneurysms and two strokes in the past, credited Travel Counsellors for its support but said that so far she had not needed access to any special help.

She said: “I am still working on my own but I feel very much part of a community at Travel Counsellors.

“I am not the whizz sales person I was 15 years ago but my clients are very loyal and they understand what I am going through and are very patient.”

She added: “I am still going to London to agent events and I have done three fam trips this year. There are days I feel less motivated and when I have to stop and think about what I am doing but I love my job so much and I keep going.

“The one thing I do find harder is the tech. But I have always said I will continue to the bitter end.”

Jackson’s main market is long-haul and luxury holidays and she also runs a separate business under the Luxury Travel Gurus brand.