Rumer Willis has reportedly ignited fears of dementia after her father Bruce Willis was diagnosed with dementia.
For those unaware, the 71-year-old retired American actor was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) in early 2023, after he stepped away from his acting career owing to a related language disorder called aphasia in 2022.
Rumer is undergoing some tests in order to determine if she is at risk of developing the same disease as her father.
In her Instagram post, the 38-year-old American actress wrote, “I really miss my dad. I miss a different version of who he was.”
“There are some days that are just so hard. I try to prioritize being present with where he’s at now. The truth is, to be strong is learning to deal with both things at the same time.”
“I did a test called the APOE, which tests your risk of Alzheimer’s – which obviously is kind of important. I wanted to check it out because of my family history,” the mother of three-year-old Louetta said.
Rumer went on to reveal that she has “some risk, but it’s not crazy” despite having an “average” score.
It is pertinent to mention that the APOE test is reliable and is designed to identify a person’s risk for dementia based on the genes passed down by parents, according to Dr. Gabe Mirkin.
“If the gene comes from both parents, it’s much more serious. If a person inherits the gene from one parent, it could be nothing or slight dementia,” he elaborated.
