08-02-2007, 12:54 AM
Former sergeant with brain disease gets help
Posted on Wednesday August 01, 2007
SARASOTA - A former Lee County Sheriff's sergeant diagnosed with a fatal brain disease is spending his final days in a Suncoast nursing home. Now, different organizations are stepping up and raising money to help a family in need.
It took doctors more than a year to diagnose 36-year-old Ryan Willin with Frontotemporal Dementia, or FTD. It’s a disease that essentially robs the mind and leaves the body.
In January, doctors told Willin he had one to two years to live. He will leave behind a wife, four children between the ages of 15 and 8 and a slew of medical bills.
"Everything that made him who he was is now gone, every bit of his personality, his likes and dislikes, even down to the food he likes," says Willin’s wife Tia.
Tia first noticed a change 2 years ago. Willin started picking fights and ignoring the kids. At work, he fell asleep on the job, disappeared for hours and showed up on the wrong days. His behavior cost him his job and Tia threw him out of the house
Now, more than a year after he was fired and 6 months after his diagnosis, the sheriff's office is reaching out to Willin's family and raising money to help with medical bills and college funds.
Tia says her husband was misdiagnosed four times, turned down by 35 nursing homes and spent three months at the Ruth Cooper Center, which is only intended for 72-hour emergency mental health care. He is now at the Sarasota Health and Rehabilitation Center, where Tia says he's doing well and even making friends.
Since he is more than 75 miles away, Tia and the kids only see him once every other week.
If you like to help the Willin family or find out more on FTD click on Links We Mentioned.
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We had this post on our site. Can anyone advise a site to help out or any additional POC. We can post information at our office,
Respectfully,
SSO
Posted on Wednesday August 01, 2007
SARASOTA - A former Lee County Sheriff's sergeant diagnosed with a fatal brain disease is spending his final days in a Suncoast nursing home. Now, different organizations are stepping up and raising money to help a family in need.
It took doctors more than a year to diagnose 36-year-old Ryan Willin with Frontotemporal Dementia, or FTD. It’s a disease that essentially robs the mind and leaves the body.
In January, doctors told Willin he had one to two years to live. He will leave behind a wife, four children between the ages of 15 and 8 and a slew of medical bills.
"Everything that made him who he was is now gone, every bit of his personality, his likes and dislikes, even down to the food he likes," says Willin’s wife Tia.
Tia first noticed a change 2 years ago. Willin started picking fights and ignoring the kids. At work, he fell asleep on the job, disappeared for hours and showed up on the wrong days. His behavior cost him his job and Tia threw him out of the house
Now, more than a year after he was fired and 6 months after his diagnosis, the sheriff's office is reaching out to Willin's family and raising money to help with medical bills and college funds.
Tia says her husband was misdiagnosed four times, turned down by 35 nursing homes and spent three months at the Ruth Cooper Center, which is only intended for 72-hour emergency mental health care. He is now at the Sarasota Health and Rehabilitation Center, where Tia says he's doing well and even making friends.
Since he is more than 75 miles away, Tia and the kids only see him once every other week.
If you like to help the Willin family or find out more on FTD click on Links We Mentioned.
Back to top
We had this post on our site. Can anyone advise a site to help out or any additional POC. We can post information at our office,
Respectfully,
SSO