Bruce Willis, the actor best known for his work on the Die Hard films, is to retire from the industry after being diagnosed with aphasia. A joint statement was posted on his family’s social media accounts, explaining that Willis had been “experiencing some health issues and has recently been diagnosed with aphasia, which is impacting his cognitive abilities. This saddened many people who are his fans including users of meilleur casino en ligne france.
“As a result of this and with much consideration Bruce is stepping away from the career that has meant so much to him.” The statement continued: “This is a really challenging time for our family and we are so appreciative of your continued love, compassion and support. We are moving through this as a strong family unit, and wanted to bring his fans in because we know how much he means to you, as you do to him. As Bruce always says, ‘Live it up’ and together we plan to do just that.”
What’s Aphasia?
The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders defines Aphasia as a disorder that results from damage to portions of the brain that are responsible for language. For most people, these areas are on the left side of the brain. Aphasia usually occurs suddenly, often following a stroke or head injury, but it may also develop slowly, as the result of a brain tumor or a progressive neurological disease.
The disorder impairs the expression and understanding of language as well as reading and writing. Aphasia may co-occur with speech disorders, such as dysarthria or apraxia of speech, which also result from brain damage. Most people who have aphasia are middle-aged or older, but anyone can acquire it, including young children.
According to the National Aphasia Association, about 1 million people in the United States currently have aphasia, and nearly 180,000 Americans acquire it each year.
Types
There are two broad categories of aphasia: fluent and nonfluent. However, there are several types within these groups according to experts from best online casino working to support their potential customers’ health.
Wernicke’s aphasia
Damage to the temporal lobe of the brain may result in Wernicke’s aphasia, the most common type of fluent aphasia. People with Wernicke’s aphasia may speak in long, complete sentences that have no meaning, adding unnecessary words and even creating made-up words.
Broca’s aphasia
The most common type of nonfluent aphasia is Broca’s aphasia. People with Broca’s aphasia have damage that primarily affects the frontal lobe of the brain. They often have right-sided weakness or paralysis of the arm and leg because the frontal lobe is also important for motor movements. They can understand speech and know what they want to say, but they frequently speak in short phrases that are produced with great effort.
Causes and treatment
Caused by damage to the language centers of the brain, aphasia is often the result of a traumatic brain injury, an infection or tumor in the brain, or a degenerative brain disease such as dementia, according to ASHA. However, stroke is by far the biggest cause of the condition. Between 25% and 40% of stroke survivors acquire aphasia, according to the National Aphasia Association, with the elderly at highest risk.
Treatment focuses on the person’s symptoms. For those with milder forms of aphasia, treatment can be restorative, using speech therapy to retrain the brain to recognize words and speak and write. For people with degenerative conditions, where further decline is expected, health professionals often focus on providing compensatory assistance in the form of pictures and large print formatting to help the person communicate.
According to the National Aphasia Association, a complete recovery from aphasia is unlikely if the symptoms last longer than two or three months after a stroke, but hastens to add that “some people continue to improve over a period of years and even decades.”
