Living With the Genetic Test That Predicted My Early-Onset Dementia
Laura Sides faced a stark choice after doctors told her she had a fifty-fifty chance of inheriting the rare early-onset Alzheimer’s disease that killed her father, bbc.com reported.
Laura grew up close to her father, a general practitioner who was diagnosed with early-onset dementia in his forties. When his symptoms worsened, she stopped her university studies to care for him at age 21, bbc.com reported.
During a hospital appointment, a doctor told Laura she might have inherited the London variant of early-onset Alzheimer’s. Her father died in 2009, a year after her mother’s death. Following their deaths, Laura booked a solo trip around the world and settled in Melbourne, Australia, bbc.com reported.
Laura consulted a specialist in Melbourne in 2013 who explained that a test could determine with 99.999% certainty whether she carried the gene. If positive, the probable onset of cognitive decline would be between ages 46 and 48, bbc.com reported.
As she approached her thirties, Laura decided to proceed. She underwent six months of genetic counseling before taking the test, bbc.com reported.
We are really sorry, this is not a good news, and you have inherited the gene.
That was what clinicians told her when the results arrived after six weeks of waiting, bbc.com reported. She walked out of the room, and her waiting friend burst into hysterical tears.
Laura participated in clinical trials around the world before and after her diagnosis, bbc.com reported. Now 43, she is three years past the age when doctors predicted her symptoms would begin.
“I’m still waiting for a trigger,” she told bbc.com. “I imagine one day I will start to decline, but it doesn’t keep me up at night.”
She now runs a café-restaurant and catering service with two friends in the UK, while focusing her life on swimming and spending time with people she loves, bbc.com reported.