Woman describes life after genetic test linked to early-onset Alzheimer’s

Laura Sides has spoken to BBC Radio 4 about the impact of a genetic test that showed she had inherited a variant linked to the rare early-onset Alzheimer’s disease that affected her father.

The result has shaped how she thinks about relationships and having children. A positive genetic result is not the same as a diagnosis of dementia.

Sides, now 43, cared for her father after his Alzheimer’s symptoms became more severe. He was diagnosed in his 40s and died in 2009.

She initially decided against a genetic test. In a 2015 interview with Australia’s ABC News, she said it was a big decision and that she was thinking about it more often. At the time, she was taking part in a medical trial because of her family history.

Sides later chose to be tested. The BBC reports that she had six months of genetic counselling and waited six weeks for the result. She said the news did not immediately sink in, but that she later felt angry and confused about how to live with it.

She had spoken publicly about the result before: in a 2019 edition of The Old Ratcliffian magazine, she said she was healthy but that her expectations for the future had changed.

Sides told the BBC she had always assumed she would be a mother, but now felt having a child would not be fair. She also described the difficulty of deciding when to tell a new partner about the result. Some relationships had ended after she shared it, she said, though she had also found reassurance in being loved.

For now, Sides said, she wants to spend time with people she loves and do things that make her happy, including swimming and being outdoors.