UK man thought to be Britain’s youngest dementia sufferer dies aged 24

Independent.co reported that Andre Yarham, thought to be Britain’s youngest dementia sufferer, died from the disease aged 24. Yarham, from Norfolk, was first diagnosed at 22.

MRI scans taken during his illness showed a brain that resembled that of a 70-year-old. Yarham first began showing symptoms in 2022, with family saying he became increasingly forgetful and sometimes displayed a blank expression; in the final stages he lost his speech, could no longer care for himself, behaved "inappropriately" and was bound to his wheelchair. He was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia, which attacks the frontal and temporal lobes involved in personality, behaviour and language and tends to affect memory later than Alzheimer’s disease.

The family decided to donate his brain to research. The article says very early-onset cases are exceptionally rare and that donated tissue allows scientists to examine which proteins accumulated, which cell types were most vulnerable and how inflammation may have contributed. It adds that why the disease can begin so young is not fully understood and that further research and tissue donations are needed to guide future treatments.

Key Topics

Health, Andre Yarham, Norfolk, Frontotemporal Dementia, Mri Scan, Brain Donation