Local couple shares concerns over trial treatments in journey with frontotemporal dementia

ARLINGTON, Va. (7News) — 7News shared the story of a local couple living with the frontotemporal dementia (FTD) diagnosis.

Nick and Maureen Kalenich agreed to share their story to help those who are testing for a diagnosis or have received a dementia diagnosis.

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You’ve likely heard about Alzheimer’s research and drug breakthroughs recently, but there is no treatment for Alzheimer’s or dementia that *reverses the progress of the disease.

Nick and Maureen say they don’t expect that to happen for years.

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“They wanted to put my wife in a couple of trials, and we sat and talked about it, and there was no benefit for it. And especially when I read that the medication on 11 of the 12 pages, there was a warning that could cause micro bleeding or brain swelling,” explained Nick.

Nick said they discussed it, decided the risk wasn’t worth it,and they’d rather spend time together without any additional complications.