03/10/2026
Adaptt founder Katharine shares her family's story with Frontotemporal Dementia in her own words.👇
"We were watching Mom’s Alzheimer’s so closely that we almost missed Dad’s dementia.
As World FTD Awareness Week comes to a close, I want to share our family’s story. Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) didn’t look like what we thought dementia was supposed to look like.
Dad wasn’t forgetting. He was changing.
Looking back, the signs were there:
His judgment and decision-making changed.
He became more impulsive and lost some of his social filters.
He said and did things that were completely out of character.
He didn’t always recognize when something was inappropriate.
He had very little awareness that anything was wrong.
Because memory wasn’t the obvious problem, we didn’t immediately think dementia. We thought, What is going on with Dad?
That is something I wish I had understood earlier about FTD. Sometimes, changes in behaviour are how the disease first shows itself.
My dad was a farmer. He had a master’s degree in agriculture and worked for Agriculture Canada. He was a church elder, a husband, a father of six and a grandfather.
FTD began changing parts of the man we had known our entire lives.
As caregivers, we were so focused on Mom and her Alzheimer’s that we didn’t recognize what was happening to Dad at first. That realization has stayed with me.
I’m sharing our story for the family sitting around a kitchen table saying:
“This just isn’t like him.”
Pay attention to that sentence. If you’re noticing ongoing changes in someone’s behaviour, personality or judgment, bring those concerns to their doctor.
Dementia doesn’t always begin with forgetting. Sometimes it begins with change.
Recognizing that difference can help families seek answers, find support and better understand what is happening to someone they love.
For Dad. ❤️"
