Latest news with #DementiaAwareness
Yahoo
20-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
The real-life dementia signs Debbie from Coronation Street has shown
Warning: The article contains spoilers for Friday night's episode of Coronation Street. Tonight on Coronation Street, Debbie Webster's loved ones will finally learn she has been diagnosed with young onset dementia, following a series of concerning symptoms. Played by Sue Devaney, Debbie, 56, was diagnosed earlier this year after she began experiencing forgetfulness. Despite these signs, she kept her diagnosis a secret, but her condition has become increasingly difficult to hide. Her behaviour has become increasingly erratic, including mood swings and alarming blackouts. The storyline was developed with guidance from Dementia UK, which also advised EastEnders on a similar plot involving Nigel Bates (Paul Bradley), to ensure an accurate portrayal. According to the charity, young onset dementia affects those under 65 and impacts approximately 70,800 people in the UK, roughly 7.5% of the estimated 944,000 living with dementia. Experts Hannah Gardner, a dementia specialist and admiral nurse for Dementia UK, and Professor Paresh Malhotra, group leader at the UK Dementia Research Institute, say Debbie's storyline accurately sheds light on the experience of younger individuals with dementia. Speaking to Yahoo UK, Professor Malhotra explains that dementia affects a person's ability to carry out everyday tasks due to problems with cognitive processing. This can include difficulties with managing finances, using a computer or navigating familiar places. In Debbie's case, she has been making mistakes at work. "Sometimes we all have the occasional lapse where we forget something we've said, or we forget something we've heard," he explains. "But it's when people start to have increasing difficulty doing the things that they've always been able to do, and increasing difficulty taking on new tasks, when it's more likely that there's a brain condition underlying." Professor Malhotra says people may struggle planning a complicated meal, hosting friends and organising a holiday. If someone is experiencing younger onset dementia, they often struggle with tasks associated with work, such as setting up a new phone or email address. He adds: "So whether it's to do with planning, whether it's to do with concentration, whether it's to do with the ability to come up with the right word, these are all things that can be affected." Gardner agrees, explaining how people may have concentration problems as well as difficulty making decisions and "slower thought processing." She says: "So if someone asks someone a question, it can take longer for them to process and respond." Debbie's first sign of trouble came when she booked theatre tickets for herself and her then partner, Ronnie Bailey (Vinta Morgan), forgetting he already had plans. Her increasing forgetfulness soon led to misplaced items and missed appointments. According to Professor Malhotra, forgetfulness is one of the most common and recognisable early symptoms of dementia. "People won't remember having spoken to someone recently. They won't remember having organised to meet at the pub on a particular day, or that they plan to go to the cinema or that they agreed to do something at work," he says. "So it often shows itself in something having gone wrong, or not having recalled something important for carrying out a task." Gardner explains that this forgetfulness can permeate throughout different aspects of someone's life, adding: "It could be forgetting recent events, misplacing items or putting them in the wrong place, forgetting appointments, forgetting to do things and forgetting names of people, objects and places. It could also be struggling to find the right word and repeating themselves." In Wednesday night's episode, Debbie's distress escalated when she confronted 16-year-old Brody Michaelis (Ryan Mulvey) and a friend drinking at the hotel she manages. When Brody refused to show his ID, Debbie lashed out, smashing their beer bottles and demanding they leave. Professor Malhotra says people don't bring up mood changes and aggressiveness as much as they should, considering they can be early symptoms, especially for young onset dementia. "People can often be misdiagnosed with depression or anxiety in the year or two beforehand, and it's part of the onset, as it expresses itself through mood swings and behavioural changes," he shares. Gardner says that people can also often be misdiagnosed with anxiety or menopause, which causes a delay in a dementia diagnosis. "You don't expect someone in their 50s to have dementia if there's no family history, you put it down to the pressures of work, the changes in women, a mental breakdown. But with Dementia UK, we're trying to raise awareness," she explains. Since her diagnosis, Debbie has experienced blackouts. In young onset dementia, these cognitive blackouts can involve periods of amnesia, disorientation, or confusion. Professor Malhotra notes that such episodes may also occur in specific types, like Lewy body dementia. "Some types of dementia are associated with epileptic seizures, which are essentially blackouts,' he says. 'And in other conditions, blackouts can also occur, so these more physical symptoms can sometimes be part of the diseases that cause dementia." Gardner explains that "dementia isn't a disease itself, it's a symptom." It results from various underlying conditions, with Alzheimer's disease being the most common cause. Other major types include vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia, and frontotemporal dementia. If you need advice or support on living with dementia, contact Dementia UK's Admiral Nurse Dementia Helpline on 0800 888 6678 or email helpline@ You can also book a free video or phone appointment to get expert dementia support from an Admiral Nurse at Read more about dementia: Study reveals how long people with dementia live after diagnosis (PA Media, 4-min read) 'I answer dozens of calls about dementia a day - here are 7 things most people ask' (Surrey Live, 4-min read) 8 things you can do to cut your risk of dementia (Yahoo Life UK, 2-min read)
Yahoo
16-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Bruce Willis' Daughter Says Father's Day ‘Is Hard' Amid Actor's Dementia: ‘I Wish I Asked You More Questions While You Could Still Tell Me About It All'
Rumer Willis, the eldest daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore, marked Father's Day with an emotional post on Instagram in which she told her followers that 'today is hard' as her father continues to battle frontotemporal dementia. Bruce retired from acting in 2022 amid an aphasia diagnosis. His family announced his dementia a year later, writing on social media: 'While this is painful, it is a relief to finally have a clear diagnosis.' 'Today is hard, I feel a deep ache in my chest to talk to you and tell you everything I'm doing and what's going on in my life,' Rumer Willis wrote on Father's Day in a message to Bruce. 'To hug you and ask you about life and your stories and struggles and successes. I wish I asked you more questions while you could still tell me about it all. But I know you wouldn't want me to be sad today so I'll try to just be grateful reminding myself how lucky I am that you're my dad and that you're still with me and I can still hold you and hug you and kiss your cheek and rub your head I can tell you stories.' More from Variety Bill Murray Says Bruce Willis Refilled M&Ms in His 'SNL' Dressing Room as an NBC Page; They Were 'Moonrise Kingdom' Co-Stars Decades Later: 'Bruce Is a Good F--ing Guy' Demi Moore Posts Rare Bruce Willis Photos Amid His Retirement; Actor's Family Celebrates His 70th Birthday: 'The Greatest of All Time'... 'We Love You' Bruce Willis Told Samuel L. Jackson to Find a Role 'You Can Always Go Back to' After Bad Movies That Make No Money: 'I Got Nick Fury' Years Later 'I will be grateful for every moment I have with you,' Rumer added. 'Sending love to all those who are in the boat with me or have lost their fathers, to the single moms who are the dads, too.' Emma Heming Willis, who married Bruce in 2009, also posted a Father's Day message on Instagram in which she sent love 'to all the dads living with disability or disease, showing up in the ways they can and to the children who show up for them.' 'What Bruce teaches our girls goes far beyond words,' Emma wrote. 'Resilience, unconditional love, and the quiet strength in simply being present… But to be fair to myself, these symbolic days stir up a lot. I'm profoundly sad today. I wish, with every cell in my body, that things could be different for him and lighter for our family. As they say in our FTD community, 'It is what it is.' And while that might sound dismissive, to me, it's not. It grounds me. It helps me return to the acceptance of what is and not fight this every step of the way like I used to.' Bruce Willis' family, including Demi Moore, celebrated his 70th birthday at the end of March by posting rare photos of the retired actor on social media. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Rumer Glenn Willis (@rumerwillis) View this post on Instagram A post shared by Emma Heming Willis (@emmahemingwillis) Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week 'Harry Potter' TV Show Cast Guide: Who's Who in Hogwarts? 25 Hollywood Legends Who Deserve an Honorary Oscar
ABC News
12-06-2025
- Health
- ABC News
Forget Me Not
Introduced by Australian Story presenter Leigh Sales. Jim Rogers thought Alzheimer's was an old-person's disease … until he was diagnosed at the age of 55, becoming one of 29,000 Australians living with younger-onset dementia. Now he's being hailed as the 'pin-up boy' for dementia, challenging the stigma surrounding it and spreading the message that while dementia is terminal and incurable, you can slow its progress and live well with the condition. Watch 'Forget Me Not' at 8pm on ABC TV and iview.
