Published: 01:00 BST, 23 August 2026 | Updated: 01:39 BST, 23 August 2026
It was the near-constant droning of the washing machine that first tipped Emily Harris off to the fact that something was wrong with her mother.
Each time Emily, 31, went over to her mum Andrea’s house in Droitwich, Worcestershire, the appliance was running – morning or night.
Even stranger, the drum would often contain just one item of clothing: a T-shirt, skirt or even a single sock.
Raising four children – all while working full-time as a nurse – Andrea, then 56, had always had to be a bit of an ‘organisational freak,’ says Emily.
‘She was the first one up in the morning, getting everyone else sorted and starting on chores around the house, and the last one in bed at night,’ she says. ‘But I remember thinking it was a bit weird that she would put just one item of clothing in the washing machine and turn it on every hour. I just dismissed it as just one of her obsessive habits.’
Today, however, Emily says she knows it was probably a sign of the disease that was gradually taking over her mother’s brain: frontotemporal dementia (FTD).
Affecting roughly 30,000 people in the UK, FTD makes up just one in every 30 cases of dementia.
The condition encompasses a range of different progressive brain disorders that damage the front and temporal lobes – the regions of the brain responsible for personality, behaviour and language. Unlike Alzheimer’s disease – the most common form of dementia – FTD usually strikes people at a much younger age, typically between 45 and 64.
It was the near-constant droning of the washing machine that first tipped Emily Harris off to the fact that something was wrong with her mother Andrea
It also rarely affects memory in its early stages, with patients instead presenting with a much wider range of vague symptoms – from acting impulsively to suddenly developing a sweet tooth.
As a result, experts say the condition is more likely to go missed or be misdiagnosed by patients and loved ones alike.
‘Frontotemporal dementia is a relatively rare condition,’ says Dr Eef Hogervorst, professor of biological psychology at Loughborough University.
‘Because it often begins in midlife, the symptoms can be downplayed and misattributed to a long list of stressors that emerge then, whether that’s their career, ageing parents or changing hormones.
‘Highly educated and organised people are particularly good at compensating for the condition as well. It can be very easily missed.’
