41-year-old man with early-onset Alzheimer's explains first symptoms he noticed
People are living longer than ever in 2025, and while the likes of artificial intelligence are helping catapult the medical industry forward, we're still a long way from curing the many harrowing diseases that affect the human body.
Even though we continue making progress in trying to cure cancer, Alzheimer's is a ravaging disease that continues to baffle. Although some think we're nearing a cure for the neurodegenerative disease and the most common form of dementia, it still affects some seven million Americans. Worryingly, that figure is expected to soar to 13 million by 2050.
Unless you suffer from Alzheimer's, it's hard to imagine what it's like to be afflicted by it, although terrifying dementia videos give some insight into what it must be like. It's still a sometimes taboo subject, but keen to raise awareness, a 41-year-old Australian man has a whole YouTube channel dedicated to his early-onset Alzheimer's diagnosis.
Posting on his "I (don’t) have dementia" channel, Fraser says his symptoms started nearly two and a half years before his diagnosis in 2024.
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The father says his family seemed to notice something was wrong, explaining: "I don't remember what my symptoms really were initially. All I remember was having some pretty big memory flaws."
Fraser says he sat down to watch a movie he'd only watched a month before, but the ending was still a complete surprise to him. He continued to expand on how he started having some cognitive issues, but admitted: "It wasn't until even probably just a few months before the diagnosis, I noticed that I was having issues with just thinking.
“Being able to think deeply, I find that I have more, sort of, surface-level thinking, more shallow thinking."
He also recalls his teenage daughter repeatedly saying she was going to the movies, but he forgot and almost phoned the police: "It came to nighttime and I started freaking out thinking, ‘Where's my daughter?’ Like, I was genuinely freaking out."
He started muddling things up, like arriving at appointments early, although he was seemingly unaware of how bad things were getting.
Thankfully, he's now developed a system where his family regularly lets him know their schedules, even if they've told him several times.
Fraser also went into a bit more about what it's like to be diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's: "It's sometimes hard just to think straight. It just feels like a fog comes over your brain, and you just can't really focus on things very well. You're in a haze."
Responding to the video, one person said: "Absolute scariest disease there is. All we are is our memories. This guy is seriously braver than he probably gives himself credit for."
Another added: "This is the most awesome video explaining how a person with high cognitive reserve with a challenging career experiences the onset of dementia. Thank you so much Fraser for this valuable resource. Wishing you the best of luck."
A third emotional comment concluded: "I work with people living with dementia and cognitive impairment. This disease robs people of their voice. Yet here I am scrolling on YouTube, and I find this gentleman challenging, defying and practically laughing in the face of the disease and the stigma around it, purely from his eloquence and honesty.
"I genuinely can’t express how important what you’re doing is. Take care, and keep going."