Already a vicious foe, familial Alzheimer’s disease likes to deliver one last twist of the knife. In this rare condition, also known as ‘young onset inherited’ Alzheimer’s, not only do the children of a carrier of the rogue gene have a 50/50 chance of inheriting it, but if they do have it, they will almost certainly develop symptoms at almost the exact age their parent did. What an exquisite extra cruelty.
John Jennings’ mother, Carol, now virtually paralysed and non-speaking, became symptomatic at 50. He is 38. You would be forgiven for assuming that The Jennings v Alzheimer’s would be the story of whether he will decide to get the genetic test that will reveal whether he has the mutation his mother carried, or if he will escape her fate. In fact, although that is one strand of it, the story this documentary tells is much more extraordinary.
