The youngest dementia patient in the UK has died at the age of 24 and when he passed away he had the brain of a 70-year-old.
Andre Yarham's family noticed he was moving and speaking slower than usual and a month before his 23rd birthday, the Norfolk man was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia due to a protein mutation.
It's a rare form of dementia that only affects around one in 20 people with a dementia diagnosis, and the young man died late last year on 27 December after having an infection.
His mum Sam said Andre had a 'heart of gold' and that his brain had been donated to science in order to help researchers further their studies into dementia.
She said: "We made the decision to donate Andre's brain to medical research. If in the future, if Andre has been able to help just one more family have a precious few more years with a loved one, that would mean the absolute world."
Yarham's mum said that in 2022, he started becoming forgetful and when he was spoken to he would sometimes have a blank look on his face. Other times, he would completely ignore a person talking to him as though he had not heard them talking.
The following year, Sam was told by a consultant that an MRI scan showed her young son had the brain of a 70-year-old and he had early-onset dementia.
Just 0.1 percent of the population of the UK are diagnosed with a form of dementia before the age of 65, but shortly before his 23rd birthday, Yarham became one of them.
Following his diagnosis, he needed his mum to become his carer as she made his food, picked out his clothes and helped to bathe him.
She said: "Andre got his official diagnosis just before his 23rd birthday. In that time his speech went totally. He was just making noises. The last six months was when we started to see a very rapid decline.
"He was moving less and less. Andre was struggling to feed himself, pick up a cup, becoming very unsteady.
"We had to make the hard decision to move him into a nursing home which he went into at the beginning of the September. He walked into his room which we'd all decorated for him. Within a month he was in a wheelchair and had to be hoisted."
Andre had been working for luxury car company Lotus, but left his job after six months as he was struggling, but could not articulate why something was wrong.
Sam said her son's diagnosis had been 'very tough' on the rest of the family, which included her husband Alastair, 62, and her other son Tyler, 23.
Andre was taken to hospital with an infection last month, with his mum saying that was 'the start of a very rapid decline' and that her son 'became less aware of us being there'.
Sam explained that her son 'stopped eating and drinking', and then the family were informed that he had been placed on end of life care, with him being moved to Priscilla Bacon Lodge Hospice following a three week stay in hospital.
He was in the hospice for over a week before he died on 27 December, and the family are hoping his brain will help studies into dementia.
She said: "If people do have concerns about loved ones and their memories, there are tests available and go to your GP.
"We want to thank everyone who has shown us love and support with Andre's journey."
Topics: UK News, Health, Mental Health
Joe Harker