Living with the knowledge of an inherited Alzheimer’s gene

Laura Sides told BBC Radio 4’s Life Changing podcast that she underwent genetic testing after learning she had a 50% chance of developing her father’s rare form of early onset Alzheimer’s. Her father, a GP diagnosed in his 40s, died in 2009. Sides initially declined testing after consulting a specialist in Melbourne in 2013, but later reconsidered and completed six months of genetic counselling.

The result showed she had inherited the gene. In the BBC’s November 2026 account, Sides was 43; doctors had predicted decline between 46 and 48. She described anger and uncertainty after the result, alongside difficult decisions about relationships and motherhood. Participation in medical trials gave her a sense of purpose, while time with loved ones and outdoors became central priorities.

Sides’s experience illustrates the emotional weight of learning about an inherited condition before anticipated symptoms. Her account includes counselling, a six-week wait for results and subsequent difficulty deciding when to tell new partners. It is one person’s experience, not evidence that everyone with inherited dementia risk will make the same choices.