Bruce Willis Has Now Been Accurately Diagnosed With Frontotemporal Dementia

Less than a year after retiring from acting due to deteriorating cognitive abilities, actor Bruce Willis has been diagnosed as having incurable dementia, his family announced.

The 67-year-old American actor best known for his part in the Die Hard series and The Sixth Sense left Hollywood in March 2022 and hasn’t been in the spotlight since.

Bruce Willis Has Been Diagnosed With “Untreatable” Dementia

In March last year, it was announced that Willis will be retiring from acting after being diagnosed with aphasia, a language disorder caused by damage in a specific area of the brain that controls language expression and comprehension.

Today, the family announced that the disease has progressed to Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD).

The Willis family made a statement through The Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration and various social media platforms.

 

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In a statement, they said that “Bruce’s condition has progressed and we now have a more specific diagnosis: frontotemporal dementia (known as FTD).”

They added, “While this is painful, it is a relief to finally have a clear diagnosis.”

The family would like more media attention on the disease instead of on Willis, saying that this disease needs “far more awareness and research.”

This would have what Bruce Willis wanted: “by bringing global attention and a connectedness with those who are also dealing with this debilitating disease and how it impacts so many individuals and their families.”

So, what is FTD?

Frontotemporal Dementia

Most FTD cases occur between 45 and 64, which means it’ll affect younger people.

It has different symptoms than Alzheimer’s disease, as its symptoms include “uncharacteristic personality changes, apathy, and unexplained struggles with decision-making, speaking or language comprehension.” Even so, it’s often misdiagnosed as Alzheimer’s, depression, Parkinson’s disease, or a psychiatric condition, and it currently takes 3.6 years to get an accurate diagnosis.

It is rather rare, with only about 60,000 confirmed cases in the US (although many cases might have been misdiagnosed).

People with FTD will experience decline in function behaviour, language, and/or movement over a period of 2 to 20 years, and life expectancy is about 7 to 13 years.

There is no cure, and the cause is genetic. This is why it’s important for family members to do a genetic test if someone in the family has FTD, as it’s often misdiagnosed.

Willis’ Career

Known for being an action film actor since the 1980s, Willis was known for his work on not only the Die Hard films, but also other movies like Pulp Fiction, The Fifth Element, The Last Boy Scout, Twelve Monkeys, The Sixth Sense, Looper and Moonrise Kingdom.

He also worked in TV and family comedies, with one of his most iconic roles being a baby that he voiced on Look Who’s Talking and Look Who’s Talking Too.

As a singer (bet you didn’t know that), he released three albums and also made his Broadway debut in 2015.

In the past few years, Willis starred in films such as Reds and The Expendables, and also had roles in seven films that were released in 2021.

Eight more films that star Willis have also been completed, and are slated to be released in 2022 and 2023.

This means while he has retired, you’d still be seeing him for the next two years.

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