Dementia is abnormal brain degeneration that leads to changes in a person's ability to think, speak, and take part in normal daily activities. It mostly affects older adults, and it's quite rare for children and teenagers to have the syndrome. However, in one such rare instance, a 19-year-old girl in the US has been diagnosed with dementia, New York Post reported.
Initially, Gianna Cabo's brain fog was thought to be a symptom of long Covid because she had been severely ill with coronavirus in June 2020. However, when Ms. Cabo's school and college grades started to decline, her mother Rebecca Robertson noticed something was wrong.
In addition, she also struggled with memory loss and the ability to perform simple tasks, like operating a can opener. Further, Ms. Cabo started to withdraw from her friends, stopped completing her homework, and began falling asleep as soon as she got home.
Worried about her health, her mother Rebecca Robertson took her to see a neurologist in November 2022. After a series of medical tests, doctors found no electrical activity in her right central lobe and she was diagnosed with dementia.
''I felt like someone had just punched me in my heart. I sat there stunned. I thought this can't be true, she's only 19. I never thought it could be dementia — not in my wildest dreams,'' her mother Rebecca Robertson, told SWNS, as reported by NY Post.
Notably, the mother-daughter duo was also involved in a car crash in 2019, which left Ms. Cabo with compressed discs in her neck and this, according to her mum, has also hindered her daughter's mental health.
Ms. Cabo, now 20, is now unable to recall her most treasured and happy childhood memories. Her mother admits she feels like her daughter is ''slipping away.''
''I just pray there is a treatment out there that can give me some hope. She doesn't laugh anymore. She doesn't get out of bed. The saddest part is it doesn't bother Gianna. There's no emotion there. None. She's 100 percent apathetic,'' her mother added,
According to the Childhood Dementia Initiative, childhood dementia results from progressive brain damage and has been linked to over 70 rare genetic disorders.
While there is no cure, treatment options include medication, therapy, and nutrition services.
