Mark Priddy is just 40-years-old and he cannot speak or feed himself. He lives in a nursing home, where his wife, Dione, and two daughters, Eleanor, 12, and Bethany, 11, visit him every weekend.
Priddy has early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, and he was diagnosed four years ago at the age of 36, London’s Daily Mail reported.
The diagnosis of Alzheimer's in a person under the age of 65 is extremely rare, according to research.
Dione Priddy, who is also 40, said she began noticing small changes in her husband in 2002.
As a real estate agent, Mark Priddy began losing his keys frequently, and he would forget many of his appointments. He was hired – and fired from seven jobs. His doctor prescribed him antidepressants in 2004.
Soon a MRI scan revealed that Mark had lost some brain cells. A few weeks later, doctors gave Dionne Priddy the diagnosis: early-onset Alzheimer’s.
Because it’s a progressive disease, Mark Priddy would have good moments and bad, and for the time being he understood the severity of the situation. He was given drugs to delay the inevitable, and the family took a vacation. The couple renewed their vows, but eventually Mark Priddy ended up in a nursing home because he had become so violent.
“We thought we had a lifetime together,” Dione Priddy said.
Click here to read more on this story from the Daily Mail and to see pictures of the Priddy family.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox