Andre Yarham, believed to be the UK’s youngest dementia patient, has died aged 24 after battling a rare and aggressive form of the disease.
Andre, from Dereham, passed away on December 27 at a hospice, just days after Christmas. He was diagnosed at 22 with frontotemporal dementia, a rare condition caused by a protein mutation that affects only a small fraction of dementia patients.
His family first raised concerns after noticing changes in his movement, speech and awareness. An MRI scan later revealed that Andre’s brain resembled that of a 70-year-old, shortly before his 23rd birthday.
Paying tribute, his mother, Sam Fairburn, described him as having “a heart of gold” and said the family made the decision to donate his brain to science to help advance research into the disease.
“There’s not enough awareness of how cruel this disease can be,” she said. “There are different types of dementia, different symptoms and different behaviours.”
