Name: Man confronts life with early-onset Alzheimers disease
Uploaded: 2026-01-09T17:33:05.126Z
Duration: 3 min 23 s
Description: It was an illness that proved baffling, and life changing. For years, a Richmond, B.C., man struggled, he lost multiple jobs, and he and his family were left wondering what was wrong. Finally, as the CBC’s William Burr reports, there was a diagnosis of a disease that’s not known to affect someone so young.

It was an illness that proved baffling, and life changing. For years, a Richmond, B.C., man struggled, he lost multiple jobs, and he and his family were left wondering what was wrong. Finally, as the CBC’s William Burr reports, there was a diagnosis of a disease that’s not known to affect someone so young.

Richmond

Andrew Reid, a 56-year-old from Richmond, BC, began experiencing vision and cognitive difficulties in 2021, which led to job loss and a lengthy search for answers. After two years and multiple misdiagnoses, he was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease, a condition that affects thousands of Canadians under 65 and is often difficult to identify due to atypical symptoms.

Andrew's wife, Karina, has taken on full-time work and caregiving responsibilities for their family, including their two young sons. The Reids' experience highlights the lack of immediate support following diagnosis and the challenges faced by younger patients, as well as the importance of raising awareness and support for those affected by early-onset dementia.

Man confronts life with early-onset Alzheimer's disease

Jogging has always remained a constant in Andrew Reid's life even while many things have changed for him and his wife Karina. Your left hand is on the floor and right hand is over. In 2021, Andrew then 56 and working in management and health care began to have problems with his vision and spatial awareness with reading and using a computer. That was the starting point that basically eroded my career. Shortly after, his employer let him go. Andrew found other jobs but was quickly let go again. Multiple trips to the optometrist found nothing wrong with his eyes. We just thought it was burnout like chronic burnout from pandemic and then the loss of the job. I thought it was depression, it was anxiety. The diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer's came two years later. When the doctors deliver that message, your whole world falls apart really. There's no social worker or nurse to hug you afterwards and say here's a pamphlet, here's what you're going to do next. All we were told is we'll see you in a year. The delay in getting a diagnosis is common with early onset Alzheimer's, experts say. People struggle getting a diagnosis and sometimes people end up for example in the mental health stream of health care. Patients are younger and early symptoms have little to do with memory loss. Wait, relax, relax. Okay and then through here. Although Andrew can no longer put on his coat sleeves, fasten his seat belt or make himself a meal, he loves spending time with his family and has even joined an improv group. I gave you opportunity. I don't know how to respond to that. Early onset dementia, which includes early onset Alzheimer's, affects 28,000 people under the age of 65 in Canada and that number will likely rise to 40,000 by 2040. Many people with these rare forms who are often younger are falling through the cracks. The Reeds hope Andrew qualifies for the new treatment. In the meantime, they've pivoted. Karina, who was studying, took a full-time job. Karina's been shouldering everything for the past couple of years. Karina takes care of the house, her own aging parents, Andrew and their two boys aged 11 and 13. No 11 and 13 really want to help their dad put on a jacket or put a seat belt on their dad or close the door for their dad or open doors for dad. I see that anger and that frustration. I think the biggest win that's going to come out of all this for my boys is that they have learned a lifetime worth of caretaking. Red stickers make the house easier to navigate. Socks and utensils are red as well. The Reeds don't know how quickly Andrew's illness will progress, but they're living in the moment. As you process things and you move through your grief, you just come to an acceptance and I think that's where we're at. Andrew's Alzheimer's is often invisible to others, but he wants people to see what it's like so that no one has to go through it alone. William Burr, CBC News, Richmond.

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