The grieving mother of a 24-year-old man who died from a rare form of dementia just after Christmas has spoken of her devastation, revealing doctors said her son had the brain of a person in their seventies.
A Mother's Intuition and a Shocking Diagnosis
Sam Fairbairn, 49, appeared on ITV's This Morning with her husband Alastair to discuss the loss of her son, Andre, who passed away on December 27. She described the early signs she noticed, beginning at her wedding in November 2022, when the normally sociable Andre left the celebrations unusually early.
"He'd gone home by half nine," Sam recalled, struggling with emotion. "He just said, 'I'm going home, I've had enough' and off he went. That's just not like him." More worrying changes followed, including Andre forgetting what he was going to buy at the shop and significant shifts in his speech and behaviour.
After an initial assessment suggested autism, Sam's intuition told her something more was wrong. A subsequent MRI scan delivered the devastating news: Andre had frontal atrophy. "The consultant said if he didn't know the scan he was looking at, he'd have thought it was like that of a 70-year-old that had got dementia," Sam told hosts Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard.
A Rapid and Cruel Decline
It was later confirmed Andre had frontotemporal dementia (FTD), a rare form affecting about one in 20 dementia sufferers, caused by a protein mutation. The keen wrestling and Xbox fan eventually had to give up his job at a car manufacturer.
Sam quit her career as a coach driver to become his full-time carer, helping him with dressing, bathing, and eating. The family also created a bucket list of experiences, including a trip to Shrek’s Adventure! London and a ride in a drifting car.
By September 2024, Andre's mobility had declined so rapidly he needed to move into a care home. "He walked in, very slowly, and then within a month, he was in a wheelchair," Sam said. After a hospital stay for an infection, the family received the devastating news he was on end-of-life care. He entered the Priscilla Bacon Lodge hospice in Norwich just before Christmas and died on December 27.
A Legacy of Hope Through Research
In the wake of their loss, the family made the decision to donate Andre's brain to science at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, hoping it will contribute to finding a cure or better treatments. Sam has become a vocal supporter of increased awareness and research into early-onset dementia.
"It’s the cruelest disease because there’s no treatment," she said. "You watch, and you grieve, and you lose that person time and time again... With dementia, there’s nothing." She highlighted that early-onset dementia is not exclusive to older age groups, with an estimated 50,000 people in England showing symptoms before the age of 65.
Sam paid tribute to her "cheeky, funny, chatty" son, noting that even at the end, he would make his characteristic "Whoo" noise of happiness when nurses joked with him. Andre's funeral is scheduled for January 27 at Breckland Crematorium in Norfolk.
