[ad_1]
A 23-year-old man is believed to be one of the youngest people in the UK to be diagnosed with dementia – just two years after it killed his mum.
Jordan Adams is likely to eventually lose the ability to walk, talk and eat for himself at any time, doctors say.
Dementia could end his life in his fifties, as it did to his mum Geri and aunt Ann.
Now Jordan, of Redditch, Worcestershire, plans to have his sperm screened for the gene so he and girlfriend Lucy Thomas, 21, can start a family before his symptoms develop – and also plans to tick travelling to Hawaii, buying a house, and skydiving off a bucket list.
The entrepreneur was last month told he had a rare mutation of the MAPT gene, which causes the condition, and has been told his condition will deteriorate as he gets older.
He said: ‘When I was told the diagnosis I was devastated. We had been in the waiting area for what seemed like hours – it was only 10 minutes but it felt like an eternity.
‘As soon as I walked into the room I knew it wasn’t a positive result.
‘Nobody can prepare you for that.
‘If there are no advancements then I’ll have a shorter life than most. It’s like a death sentence.
‘It’s very hard to explain. We’re all dealt cards in life and I was just incredibly unlucky.’
Jordan had three gruelling months of consultations and blood tests.
He and sister Kennedy, 25, decided to get checked after watching their mum deteriorate over a period of six years.
They watched Geri lose the ability to talk, walk and eventually eat and breathe for herself between 2010 and 2016.
Jordan added: ‘Mum was full of love and very much a people person.
‘No one had a bad word to say about her, she was very kind and lovely.
‘We’d noticed irregularities in her behaviour. I remember one Saturday she went to pick up Kennedy from school but it was a weekend.
‘Her character changed from being a loving woman and she became quite cold.
‘She seemed to lack compassion which was a huge change from when she’d covered us in love.
‘She slowly got stripped of her communication. She couldn’t talk a lot and then she began to lose her mobility and couldn’t go out alone.
‘As the disease progressed she lost the ability to walk and care for herself and for the last 18 months she was bedridden. It was heartwrenching.’
Jordan is considering IVF with Lucy as the process will allow doctors to screen his sperm for the dementia-carrying gene.
Lucy said: ‘We’ve decided that it’d be probably best to have children first and then get married.
More: UK
‘We know it’s different to how most people would it do but it’ll give Jordan more time with his kids.
‘It’s hard to deal with knowing he won’t be there one day but it’s important to retain perspective.
‘We will have a life together despite everything,’ the nursing student added.
To make a donation to Jordan’s bucket list, visit his GoFundMe page.
[ad_2]
Source link
