In March 2022, Bruce Willis’s family announced the withdrawal of the actor’s spotlight because he was diagnosed with aphasia, a disorder due to damage to the part of the brain that controls language. Now, through a statement published this Thursday, they reported that Bruce Willis’s condition evolved and is now frontotemporal dementia.
Through a publication on the Instagram account, one of the daughters of Bruce Willis has confirmed the condition of frontotemporal dementia suffered by the actor of Die Hard and the Fifth Element.
“Since we announced Bruce’s diagnosis of aphasia in the spring of 2022, his medical condition has worsened and we now have a more specific diagnosis: frontotemporal dementia (known as FTD),” read the statement posted on social media by several of Bruce Willis’s relatives, including his wife, Emma Heming, his ex-wife, Demi Moore, and their daughters, Rumer, Scout, Tallulah, Mabel, and Evelyn Willis.
What is frontotemporal dementia?
Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a rare form of dementia similar to Alzheimer’s disease, except that it tends to affect only certain areas of the brain, according to information from Medline Plus. Dementia may also be called major neurocognitive disorder.
People with FTD have abnormal substances (called neurofibrillary tangles, Pick bodies, Pick cells, and tau protein) inside neurons in damaged areas of the brain.
The exact cause of the production of the abnormal substances is unknown. Many different abnormal genes have been found to cause FTD. Some cases of FTD are passed from parent to child.
It can present in people as young as 20 years old, but usually begins between the ages of 40 and 60, with an average age of onset at 54 years.
What are the symptoms of frontotemporal dementia?
According to Medline Plus, people with frontotemporal dementia tend to misbehave in various social settings. Behavior changes continue to worsen and are often one of the most disturbing symptoms of this disease.
Some people will have more difficulty with decision making, complex tasks, or language (trouble finding or understanding words or writing words). There are variations of FTD that occur with other nervous system problems such as:
- Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS/Lou Gehrig’s disease)
- primary progressive aphasia
- progressive supranuclear palsy
General symptoms include:
- behavior changes
- Emotional changes
- language changes
- neurological problems
Related notes: