Man, 23, told he will suffer dementia in youngest UK case

 A 23-year-old man has been warned he will almost certainly develop dementia after inheriting a rare genetic mutation.

Jordan Adams is thought to be the youngest person in Britain to find out he will have Parkinson’s disease and early-onset frontotemporal dementia because of a faulty MAPT gene. He has just one in 100million chance that the mutation will not lead to dementia.

Although he currently shows no signs of illness, doctors have warned him he could lose the ability to walk, talk and feed himself at any time and could die in his 50s, like his mother, Geri. Mr Adams, from Redditch, Worcs, said: “When I was diagnosed I was devastated. Nobody can prepare you for that.”

Mr Adams is now planning to have his sperm screened for the gene so he can start a family before his symptoms develop.

“I feel like the diagnosis is a licence to live,” he said.

“It’ll make me appreciate the bigger picture.”