I thought my 22-year-old son had autism — I was shocked to find out it was early-onset dementia

A 22-year-old man with early onset dementia has become the youngest person with the condition in the United Kingdom, according to his mother.

Sam Fairborn, 47, from Norwich, Norfolk, England says she has to treat her son Andre Yarham, 22, as though he were a 70-year-old man, South West News Service reported. He is just among 0.1% of the population in the UK who have received a dementia diagnosis under 65.

Yarham’s troubling symptoms first appeared in November 2022. He started moving and speaking more slowly than usual and appeared to have a blank stare on his face. After doing an MRI scan in October, doctors discovered he had dementia.

Doctors found atrophy in his frontal lobe, an area of the brain that usually shrinks with age — a contributing factor of dementia. He is now undergoing genome testing to determine the cause of his brain disease.

Fairborn said her son’s diagnosis was “devastating.” In addition to dementia, Yarham was also diagnosed with autism, which his mom had already suspected since he scored highly on an autism test in the past.

Fairborn’s once “chatty kid” is now a shell of who he once was. Yarham used to be an avid wrestling fan and played rugby and football in school. He later got a job at luxury car manufacturer Lotus Cars where his job was replacing the material in the ceiling of cars.

He left after just six months of employment but was unable to tell his family what was wrong. His mom said she realized he must be suffering from something besides the suspected autism.

“He scored highly on the autism test but the waiting list was five to seven years so a family member paid for us to go private,” she said.

“While this was all happening, I just knew something still wasn’t quite right. He was saying less and less, and moving more slowly as if he was trying to process what had been asked of him, ” she added.

Yarham’s care must be around the clock Fairborn gave up her career as a driver to take care of her son full-time.

“I chose Andre’s clothes, I help him bath as he can’t remember what to do in the shower and make his food and drink,” Fairborn said.

“He’d usually go to the shop in the morning to buy himself a Monster but now if he went, he’d forget why he was in there,” she added.

Yarham’s family — which includes his mom, her husband Alastair, 60, and her other son Tyler, 21 — hope the genome test will help them determine the cause of dementia so he can potentially join a clinical trial.

“Even if there’s no cure – which there isn’t for dementia – any trials we can take part in, would help,” Fairborn said.

“Although they might not work for Andre, any research from them might help someone else in the future and we’ll take that,” she added.

Fairborn said doctors told her that her son’s chances of getting better are “slim” and that he’ll likely have a shorter life expectancy.

“What that life expectancy is, they didn’t say so we want to make the most of it,” she said.

Yarham’s family created a GoFundMe for a bucket list for their son, which includes a Harry Potter Studio Tour and Sherk’s Adventure in London.

So far they’ve raised around $756 of their $1,271 goal.