Actor Bruce Willis’ wife needs help to deal with his dementia
We do need to learn to ask for help because this is a marathon and not a sprint, she says
Hollywood star Bruce Willis’ wife has admitted that she “needs help” amid the actor’s recent dementia diagnosis.
It was revealed last year that Bruce had been diagnosed with a form of dementia called frontotemporal dementia (known as FTD). His family confirmed the star, 68, had been told of his condition in the spring of 2022, reports ‘Mirror.co.uk’.
The ‘Die Hard’ star’s close friends initially said he was suffering from language disorder aphasia before they had the heartbreaking news that his condition had progressed to frontotemporal dementia.
In her recently uploaded YouTube video, Emma told her subscribers about her journey with Bruce and shared that she needs to “learn to ask for help” before explaining that “this is a marathon and not a sprint”.
She said, quoted by ‘Mirror.co.uk’, “I would like for people looking at this journey from the outside to feel like they have ways to effectively step in. Usually, what tends to happen is the friend asks what they can do to help, but that just puts another added task on a caregiver to have to dictate, then teach and most times we just don’t have the bandwidth for it”.
She added, “But what I know is we do need help and we do need to learn to ask for it because if we don’t it is not sustainable. This is a marathon and not a sprint. You do need to call in the help and the support because it’s just not sustainable”.
She also admitted she sometimes feels guilty when taking time to look after herself while also caring for the star. The 45-year-old model has been raising awareness of the condition ever since Bruce was diagnosed and she’s now taken to Instagram to share some information with fans in support of World FTD Awareness Week.
“FTD is short for frontotemporal dementia or degeneration,” she wrote in the clip. “FTD effects the front and temporal lobes of the brain. Today, there is no cure or single treatment for this disease.”
Emma explained that this is “one of many reasons” why it’s important to raise awareness of FTD.