A new update on the condition of Hollywood star Bruce Willis has been released, and it seems that his dementia is only worsening. The star of Die Hard, Willis’ face, will be all over televisions in America as the weather begins to move toward winter and the Christmas season is upon us. Before that, however, fans of the actor are just now hearing the most recent news regarding Willis’ fight against dementia.
Willis was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia at the beginning of this year, and according to recent comments from the creator of “Moonlighting,” Glenn Gordon Caron, his condition has worsened. In an interview with People, Caron discussed a recent meeting between the two where Willis was nearly non-verbal as the toll of the disease has been taken on him.
Caron said, “I’m not always quite that good but I try and I do talk to him and his wife [Emma Heming Willis] and I have a casual relationship with his three older children. I have tried very hard to stay in his life.”
With that effort to stay in the Willis family’s life, Caron has had a front seat to the condition of Bruce. After their last meet, Caron said, “The thing that makes [his disease] so mind-blowing is [that] if you’ve ever spent time with Bruce Willis, there is no one who had any more joie de vivre [joy of living] than he. He loved life and … just adored waking up every morning and trying to live life to its fullest.”
Caron offered a chilling analogy of the way that Bruce Willis is now living, saying that the Hollywood Great “now sees life through a screen door.” On the other hand, Caron is absolutely sure that Bruce recognizes him when he arrives for visits.
Bruce’s wife also talked about the impact that the disease has had on her family, saying, “What I’m learning is that dementia is hard,” Emma said. “It’s hard on the person diagnosed. It’s also hard on the family. And that is no different for Bruce, or myself, or our girls. When they say that this is a family disease, it really is.”
The Dementia Society is one of many organizations that is combatting Dementia by raising money to fund treatment and research. Describing the severity of the affliction, they write, “Today there are no cures or effective long-term treatments. Alzheimer’s disease and many other causes of progressive Dementia cross the cultural and socioeconomic divides. Rich or poor, or somewhere in-between, you can die prematurely just because of Dementia.”
As a fan of Willis’ work, it is hard to think about the pain that he and his family are enduring without feeling a lump in one’s throat. As his disease and condition continue to worsen, I’ll be making sure to watch a couple of Bruce Willis films this year to celebrate the life and works that will continue to live on long after his time on earth has passed.
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