The family of Hollywood icon Bruce Willis announced his Dementia yesterday. Bruce Willis was diagnosed with aphasia last year, a disease that impairs a patient's speech. But this condition has now progressed into frontotemporal dementia, a term used to describe issues with various mental abilities. It is an uncommon form of dementia. It involves impairment of language and behavior. Although the situation is horrendous for Willis’ family and fans, his family has expressed relief in finally getting a clear diagnosis of his illness, as it will now give a specific direction for treating his condition. His family also addressed the love and good wishes his fans have poured on him till now and expressed their gratitude for their constant love.
The Willis family posted their statement on the website of the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration. In this statement, the Willis family talked about the condition, frontotemporal dementia or FTD, and how it challenges the ability of patients to communicate. For someone like Bruce Willis, who has delivered some of the most iconic lines in the movie world, it's devastating. Frontotemporal dementia is much more prevalent in people under the age of 60 years. But as it takes years to confirm the condition, it usually lowers the chances of a patient's recovery. As of now, there is no available treatment for frontotemporal dementia.
The Willis family said that all the attention Bruce’s condition has managed to garner should be focused on increasing awareness for frontotemporal dementia as the condition requires more research. Bruce always devoted his time to helping others through his reach. His family said, if he could, he would have used his voice to generate attention toward those who are struggling with this condition. The person suffering from this condition is not the only one who gets affected by it. Their loved ones and their family members also suffer from watching them slowly lose their ability to communicate.
Bruce Willis is a Hollywood icon who has made his name through films such as Die Hard series, Pulp Fiction, Armageddon, and many others. For his roles in these iconic movies, Willis has been nominated countless times for prestigious awards such as the Golden Globes, Emmys, etc. But last year’s announcement of his being diagnosed with aphasia meant that Willis will be retiring from his acting profession because of his language impairment. After this reveal, the fans of 67 years old Willis were heartbroken, as this meant that they wouldn't be getting to see Willis again on the silver screen. But there was still hope for his fans, as aphasia is a potentially treatable condition.
But now that Willis has been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia, this means a dead end for his movie career. Now the fans and his family members can only hope for him to have a peaceful and dignified life. As of now, one can only for his condition to not progress further, as for now, Willis has only shown impaired communication as the symptom. If the condition worsens, the patients may suffer from symptoms such as stiffness in joints and loss of ability to control their bowel movement, thus forcing the patient to rely on external support, which is a serious blow to anyone’s pride.
