Ammon News - A 24-year-old man who died over Christmas due to dementia has left his brain to researchers.

Andre Yarham, who lived in Dereham, Norfolk, was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia due to a protein mutation a month before his 23rd birthday.

His mother Samantha Fairbairn said she hoped by donating his brain to science more could be found out about this "cruellest" of diseases.

According to Dementia UK, frontotemporal dementia is a rare form of the disease affecting about one in 20 people with a dementia diagnosis.

Fairbairn first noticed changes to her son's behaviour soon after her wedding to his stepfather, Alastair, in November 2022, when Yarham began to get forgetful or displayed inappropriate behaviour.

"He went into the city one day to get something, or he's supposed to be going to the shop, and he decided to get the bus," said Fairbairn.

Scans at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital found unusual shrinking to his brain, before Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge diagnosed dementia.

Fairbairn, 49, said she felt "a range of emotions, from anger, sadness - sadness for him".

"One thing it never done until the very, very end was take away his personality, his sense of humour, his laughter and his smile," said Fairbairn.

A month before he died, Yarham lost his speech and could only make noises.

BBC