Bruce Willis’ wife has vented her frustration over ‘disrespectful’ dementia comments from doctors.
Model and advocate Emma Heming Willis took to social media, after hearing that her husband’s condition, frontotemporal dementia (FTD), is referred to as the ‘other dementia’.
It comes less than a year after the A-Lister’s family revealed his heartbreaking diagnosis.
As World FTD Awareness Week came to an end, Heming Willis took to Instagram to explain why it was important to speak about the condition as a separate diagnosis.
Part of several short clips uploaded by the mum-of-two, she spoke about how she felt she was just ‘scratching the surface’ with her advocacy work.
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She told her followers: “I have so many whys as to why I raise awareness. [...] At the end of the day, what I would love to see is a cure, a treatment for this disease. And if we don't raise our voices, they're just gonna run right past us. So continue to raise your voice."
In a follow-up on her stories, she raised her concerns about different forms of dementia being ‘swept under the rug’ with blanket terminology.
“I'm just gonna leave you with one more thing because now I'm annoyed. When doctors or [the] media speak about dementia, they'll say 'Alzheimer's and other dementia',” she argued, adding: “So FTD is the 'other dementia' and let me tell you something about that disease; it is real, it is out there and it will bring you to your knees.
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"I think that it is an absolute disservice and absolutely disrespectful for these 'other dementias' to be put in that category. I think it's really important for us to know what these diseases are like vascular, like Lewy body, like FTD.”
Clearly frustrated, she finished the post by saying: “Call it what it is because that is where the confusion lies; when people think of dementia they automatically think of Alzheimer's. I do not want to see this disease and our 'other dementias' swept under the rug anymore."
Heming Willis has been advocating for awareness surrounding FTD after announcing her husband’s diagnosis back in February.
Willis has a rare form of dementia, with affects both the frontal and temporal lobes which gradually leads to memory problems.
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Other symptoms include struggling to speak, issues with organisation as well as physical issues such as muscle weakness.
Though the Die Hard actor has retired, his family and ex-wife Demi Moore have been keeping fans up to date with his condition.
Topics: Celebrity, Health, US News, Bruce Willis
Katherine Sidnell