31-year-old woman Gemma Illingworth died following the fight with rare and violent kind of dementia posterior cortical atrophy (PCA). Gemma, diagnosed when she was just 28, wasn’t aware how serious she was. According to her brother, Ben Illingworth, she didn’t recognize the signs warning her that something was going terribly wrong and believed she was going to keep a normal life.
“She didn’t realize what was happening, and she believed that she could live a normal life, but she couldn’t… Before we knew it, she couldn’t live without assistance,” Ben revealed to The Sun. “Once she had the diagnosis, it was really only going one way. We didn’t know it was going to be that fast.”
PCA is an advancing neurodegenerative disease that mainly affects the section of the brain that is responsible for visual perception. While the disease progresses, it not only causes vision problems but also results in memory loss and physical disability. Physicians describe that PCA makes the neurons in the posterior cerebral cortex degrade, affecting the ability of one to process visual information.
Gemma had started to develop greater problems with everyday tasks—she had coordination, distance judgement, and reading difficulties. She was ‘ditsy’ from childhood according to her brother, frequently losing sight, struggling with telling time, and having orientation problems, but the family never suspected she had an underlying disease.
As the symptoms grew stronger, Gemma couldn’t function on her screen and had to give up work. Neurological exams confirmed that she had PCA. As time passed, her condition grew worse—she lost the capacity to feed herself, talk, walk, and even swallow.
What is Posterior Cortical Atrophy (PCA)?
PCA is commonly linked with other conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia. While there is no cure, physicians generally seek to determine the underlying cause in an effort to treat and retard the development of symptoms with medication and supportive therapy.
Signs and Symptoms
Though PCA typically occurs in people in their 50s and 60s, it may start even during one’s 30s. The condition impacts both the parietal and occipital lobes of the brain. Symptoms are as follows:
- Reading difficulty due to moving or scrambled lines of text
- Difficulty judging distance, e.g., steps or curb-to-curb distance
- Getting confused when giving and following directions and identifying left from right
- Difficulty identifying faces, objects, or locations
- Recurring bumping into doors or furniture
- Difficulty with using numbers, devices, and tools
- Anxiety caused by confusion of the mind
Gemma’s case brought to the forefront the need for early detection and knowledge of uncommon types of dementia such as PCA. In spite of her valiant struggle, her condition took a sharp turn, reminding all of the unpredictable course of such ailments.
