Saturday 4 March will be a night of lively fun at the Canberra Deakin Football Club, with everyone from trivia lords to the quizzically challenged invited.

Theona Combos, a dedicated daughter leading the Dementia Demolition Squad in her mother’s memory, will host a trivia night fundraiser with every dollar raised going towards dementia and Parkinson’s research.

Five rounds, 10 to a table, and a whole plethora of prizes. There’s even something sweet in store for the biggest losers.

However, the true bounty will be hidden in the raffle on the night, with major prizes including a family zoo adventure valued at $600, a $300 Bunnings hamper, and a Challenge Flight in the B737 Flight Simulator valued at $250. Stephen Cenatiempo of 2CC will be the emcee on the night.

Although the cause could not be closer to Theona’s heart, she guarantees the fundraising is just a bonus to a night of fabulous surprises.

“Like Bunnings says, the sizzle is in the sausage, not the cause.”

At age 65, Theona’s mum, Helen Poteris, was living life for her large family of adult kids, grandkids, siblings, nephews, and nieces.

“She was cooking every day, providing all with meals and her wonderful array of paximadia, koulouria, many other Greek delights,” said Theona. “No one left mum’s home hungry or empty handed.

“As dementia set in, all of this slowed right down. Recipes were scrambled. Numbers confused. Ingredients forgotten. You see, mum’s recipes were all in her head.”

Helen’s dementia progressed rapidly. Soon, forgotten ingredients became boiling water confused with cold water, hotplates left on with tea towels on them, and items dropped as perception waned.

“One day, she locked herself in the garage. It was 40 degrees out. It was just a miracle that a friend of hers had a hunch and rescued her,” said Theona.

“I used to ring her constantly to make sure she was okay. And then it got to a point where she couldn’t pick up the phone.

“My mum did not deserve what happened to her. No one does.”

In 2009, when facing the “excruciating” decision to place her mum in care, Theona decided to take her back to her island in Greece one last time.

While driving past a house in the middle of nowhere, between the sights Theona thought her mother might recognise from childhood, Helen hollered to stop.

“I didn’t recognise the house. ‘It’s my friend What’s-her-name!’ said Mum.”

They knocked on the door. The woman who answered was her old friend, Irene, who Helen hadn’t seen in almost a decade.

“They remember things that make them feel,” said Theona. “It enriches their life, even if it’s for a moment.

“Mum couldn’t walk or talk for the last six years of her life. I became her voice, her advocate.

“I stood by her as friends and family – all the many she had fed and nurtured all these years – slipped away and stayed away.

“‘She doesn’t recognise me,’ they say. But you do, I would say! You remember this woman who has done so much for you. You still remember her. Why can’t you show a little love and compassion to this woman who has lost so much because of a disease she could not control?

“‘Why am I like this?’ Mum would ask. Why? Absolutely heartbreaking.

“The message I would like to get out to families is don’t give up on your person. They need love and attention from everybody, not just from one person.

Theona and her husband Peter began fundraising for a cure in 2016, supporting Neuroscience Research Australia in Sydney.

The Helen and Emmanuel Poteris Award, also named for Theona’s father who died of Parkinson’s at age 68, will sponsor its seventh PhD student this year.

Helen died in 2018, at age 81.

“When mum was dying, I promised her I would continue fundraising for a cure. We have raised just under $29,000 with so much more needed.”

Theona aims to raise $7,000 at the Dementia Trivia Night fundraiser, allowing her to sponsor two PhD students in 2023.

Despite a painful last 16 years of her life, Theona hopes her mother will be remembered at her happiest.

“This was the best time in her life,” said Theona, holding a wedding portrait of a young Helena and Emmanuel, “when she was married to my dad.

“Mum was only 56 when he died, so still quite young. But she always said, ‘The happiest 23 years of my life.’ They adored each other.”

Dementia Trivia Night, 4 March, Canberra Deakin Football Club: Tickets: $35 each, $300 table of 10; trybooking.com/events/landing/1004210

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