Bruce Willis Diagnosed with Dementia

The debilitating disease reveals the difficult truth

TREY GREENWELL TRAJAN.GREENWELL.21@CNU.EDU

Last week, it was announced by Bruce Willis’ family that he was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia. One year ago, he was first discovered with aphasia, a condition that revolves around difficulty with language and speech. This led to an announcement from his family that he was retiring from acting. While someone can be diagnosed with aphasia for a number of reasons, it has become apparent that the symptoms of aphasia were the early signs of frontotemporal dementia.

Frontotemporal dementia is a term used for any disease that causes loss of brain tissue in the front and back of the brain. This disease affects how a person behaves in certain social situations.

The scarier news about this rare disease is that people live for 8-10 years after being diagnosed with this disease. While some live longer, this is a worrying sign as there is no cure or way of slowing down frontotemporal dementia which means that this disease will only get worse.

In a statement his family made last week, it read “Since we announced Bruce had aphasia in 2022, his condition has progressed and we now have a more specific diagnosis: frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Sadly, difficulty communicating is one of the symptoms of this disease he is facing. Although this is very painful, it is a relief to have a clear diagnosis.