My husband, J, has been a patient at the Memory and Aging Center for the past four years. He is enrolled in the FTD clinical research program and has been in the memantine study. Now 57, he remains somewhat of an enigma to the doctors and research staff, as even in his dementia he refuses to be "in the box," with behaviors that cross the lines between Alzheimer’s and frontotemporal dementia. This is typical of J, as throughout his life he has truly marched to the beat of his own drum.

But something began to change about 10 years ago.