Her family describe her as a 'blonde bombshell' who 'lit up a room', but 32-year-old Becky Barletta has been left battling a rare case of dementia after being one of the youngest cases to be diagnosed.
A report on the Yahoo site says that the ski instructor from Suffolk in the UK now requires 24-hour care, with her devastated family revealing her personality has completely changed since her diagnosis last August.
The report says Becky was diagnosed with fronto temporal lobe dementia, a hereditary condition that tragically claimed the life of her uncle James, and her mother’s cousin, Philipa.
“There is currently no cure or treatment for any dementia or even treatment to stop or slow its progression,” Becky’s sister Sophie writes on fundraising page Just Giving. We need to change this as soon as possible and can only do this through research and raising money to support this research. Whilst unfortunately this will not help Becky, we know she would want us to try and halt this vile disease in its tracks.” The report says making Becky’s diagnosis even more devastating is the fact she tied the knot with her fellow ski instructor husband Luca in October 2015, just 10 months before her diagnosis.
Becky’s symptoms first began in the lead up to her wedding, when family became worried about her obsessive running, and colleagues noticed “inappropriate behaviour with clients”. Concerned Sophie finally got her sister to have brain scans and written tests – which led to her tragic diagnosis, with specialists saying Becky is unlikely to live beyond the next 10 years.
“Around 225,000 people develop dementia every year – that's the equivalent to one person every three minutes.”
[link url="https://au.be.yahoo.com/lifestyle/real-life/a/36949474/newlywed-becky-barletta-diagnosed-with-rare-form-of-dementia/"]Report on Yahoo site[/link]