Man, 24, dies with dementia—mom shares symptoms of his ‘70-year-old’ brain

A 24‑year‑old man has died from a rare form of dementia—leaving his brain to medical researchers in the hope of advancing future treatments.

Andre Yarham from Norfolk, England was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia—a condition caused in his case by a protein mutation—just weeks before his 23rd birthday in June last year.

His heartbroken mother, Sam Fairbairn, 49, told Newsweek: “He passed away peacefully in his sleep on December 27. He never felt any pain.”

Fairbairn described her son as a “very cheeky boy with a brilliant sense of humor.” She added: “He had a heart of gold. If he could help someone, then he would.”

In November 2022, Fairbairn noticed a change in her son’s behavior and he started acting “inappropriate” at times. He was initially diagnosed with autism, and his mom remembers thinking: “That explains a lot”.

She said: “Around the same time, he began forgetting things. He would say he was going to the shop which is walking distance, and an hour later he would be in the city with no idea how to get home.

“I knew something wasn’t quite right.”

Newsweek also spoke to Kirsty Dallison-Perry, head of consultant admiral nurse and health inequality service for Dementia UK, she said: “Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a rare form of dementia affecting around one in 20 people with a diagnosis. It is most common among people under the age of 65, but is rare for someone under the age of 45 to be diagnosed with it.

“As it develops, it can present with quite drastic changes in personality including difficulty with decision making, problem solving and behaviors that may appear impulsive, unpredictable or out of character.”

The charity website states the estimated prevalence of young‑onset dementia—diagnosed between ages 30 and 64—is 92 cases per 100,000 people in the general population, making Yarham one of the youngest dementia sufferers to die in the U.K.

Yarham had a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan at a local hospital, and when the results came back, the family were told that his frontal lobe was “shrinking.”

Fairbairn recalls: “The consultant said ‘If I hadn’t known Andre’s age, I would have thought I was looking at the brain scan of a 70‑year‑old dementia patient.’

“Because of how young he was, no one really knew where to refer him. He was eventually sent for a memory test and blood tests at another hospital.”

In June 2024, he received an official diagnosis of FTD. The condition affects only around one in 20 dementia patients, according to Dementia UK.

Yarham’s family were told that his case was caused by a gene which controls a protein called tau. When the gene has a mutation, tau builds up the wrong way, damaging brain cells and causing dementia.

As Yarham’s condition progressed, Fairbairn, 49, left her job as a coach driver to care for him full‑time, helping him dress, bathe and eat.

“The consultants explained that when an older person develops dementia, changes in their attitude usually take months, but with Andre, these changes happened within weeks or even days.

“They believed his young age was the reason he deteriorated so quickly—they were shocked at how rapidly things progressed.

“We had been told it was possible he wouldn’t see his 30th birthday, but we never expected that he wouldn’t reach 25.”

By September 2024, Yarham’s mobility had deteriorated so sharply that he moved into a care home.

His final decline came in early December, when an infection led to his admission to hospital and end‑of‑life care. Yarham died in his sleep at a hospice in Norwich.

He was unable to make the decision about donating his brain, spinal cord and fluid to science. But his mom knows that he would be proud of her decision to do so.

She told Newsweek: “He was such a giving boy and knowing his personality, he would probably think it is “cool” that his brain has been donated.”

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, there are currently no specific treatments for any subtype of frontotemporal dementia. While certain medications may help reduce agitation, irritability or depression, these therapies are aimed solely at improving quality of life rather than slowing the progression of the disease.

Frontotemporal dementia inevitably worsens over time, though the rate of decline varies between individuals. As the condition advances, many people develop significant muscle weakness and coordination problems, often becoming dependent on a wheelchair and eventually unable to leave their bed.

These muscular complications can make swallowing, chewing and moving increasingly difficult, and may also affect control of the bladder and bowels. Ultimately, most people with frontotemporal degeneration die from complications related to these physical changes, such as skin infections, urinary tract infections or pneumonia.

Yarham’s family hope that donating his brain tissue will help researchers better understand the disease and, eventually, spare other families from the devastation they have endured.

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