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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTerry Jones: I've got dementia. My frontal lobe has absconded
Terry Jones first exhibited signs that all was not well with his health in July 2014. He and his close friend Michael Palin were performing with the rest of the surviving Monty Pythons Flying Circus troupe in a show of sketches and songs, Monty Python live (mostly) at the O2 in London.
Terry was always very good at remembering lines, recalled Palin last week. But this time he had real problems, and in the end he had to use a teleprompter. That was a first for him. I realised then that something more serious than memory lapses was affecting him.
Jones, now 75, later passed standard tests designed to pinpoint people who have Alzheimers disease. His speech continued to deteriorate nevertheless. He said less and less at dinner parties, when he used to love to lead conversations, said his daughter Sally.
Eventually, in September 2015, Jones was diagnosed as having frontotemporal dementia (FTD), a condition that affects the front and sides of the brain, where language and social control centres are based. When cells there die off, people lose their ability to communicate, and their behaviour becomes increasingly erratic and impulsive. Unlike Alzheimers, there is no loss of reasoning or orientation. However, planning, decision making and speech are affected, and patients often seem less caring or concerned about their family and friends.
More at:
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/apr/16/monty-python-terry-jones-learning-to-live-with-dementia?CMP=fb_gu
CaliforniaPeggy
(149,534 posts)Chasstev365
(5,191 posts)Ilsa
(61,690 posts)malaise
(268,724 posts)Oh how he made us laugh
PsychoBabble
(837 posts)The mere thought of Monty Python makes me laugh. Terry, and they, were such a brilliant gift of laughter, and a reminder for us all to not take ourselves too seriously.
The world could use a little MP right now ...
joeybee12
(56,177 posts)Very sad
cos dem
(902 posts)Every sperm is sacred
Every sperm is great
If a sperm is wasted
God gets quite irate.
AnnieBW
(10,413 posts)Terry Jones was looking pretty bad then. The other guys were having to cue him on lines, and were doing lines that were normally his.
Martin Eden
(12,847 posts)The Pythons will always hold a special place in my heart.
Omaha Steve
(99,506 posts)Bravo for promoting awareness.
It has been almost two years since I told my friends here on the DU.
When Illness Makes a Spouse a Stranger (can we talk?): https://www.democraticunderground.com/10026641619
Hassin Bin Sober
(26,315 posts)(Does it make me a bad person if I was hoping it would be the Koran burning Terry Jones from Florida and not "our" Terry Jones?)
progressoid
(49,952 posts)calimary
(81,127 posts)I love those guys.
pansypoo53219
(20,955 posts)Bucky
(53,947 posts)I'd rather lose my marbles than my empathy. I'd rather lose my legs in my words. Terry Jones was always a stand out among the Pythons. His characters always seem so earnest no matter what part he was playing. It's key to great comedy.
I'll always be grateful for the talent and wit the Pythons brought to their shows and movies