Dementia of young slowly unravels

From The Australian, 11 October 2008:
ONE profoundly heartbreaking moment stands out for Jan Kuczerawy, in the anguished year since his wife Anne was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia.
“There was a moment in the early stages where she realised something was wrong,” says Jan. “She was frightened and she broke down in tears.”
Thankfully, that moment of lucidity was brief and never repeated.
It’s hardly something to be thankful for, but in the nightmarish world in which the families of people with this disease find themselves, they are grateful for such small mercies.
Frontotemporal dementia struck Anne at just 51 years of age. Within 16 months it has transformed this once-clever, compassionate and loving mother and wife into an overweight, confused stranger who must now be supervised 24 hours a day and is incapable of dressing herself. Read more.