Shedding light on daily struggles of living with frontotemporal dementia

ARLINGTON, Va. (7News) — 7News continues to bring awareness to Alzheimer’s and other dementias. 7News’ Adrianna Hopkins has been sharing the story of her friends, Nick and Maureen Kalenich, in hopes that someone who’s testing for a diagnosis or recently received a diagnosis, might have a better idea of what’s on the horizon.

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Maureen has frontotemporal dementia or FTD. Currently, it affects her memory, speech, and balance. Maureen went from working 40 to 50 hours a week to sleeping 12 to 13 hours a day. That’s another symptom of FTD.

“I would like to say every day is better, but every day is worse,” said Maureen Kalenich.

“She’s had bouts where she slept 38 straight hours. And the only time she gets up is when I give her medication or get her something to drink or assist her to the bathroom,” explained Nick. “And it used to come in eight to nine weeks cycles. Now it's coming in three weeks cycles, which tells me that this disease is progressing very rapidly.”

“Try to do something every day, even if it's to go to the park, or if we go to the supermarket, or something just so we get going,” said Maureen.

Today, there is no way to cure, treat, or prevent FTD. Nick’s focus is making every day comfortable for Maureen.