Bruce Willis’ wife said his family was optimistic that research would lead to new dementia treatments.
On Instagram, she said she was looking at the “silver linings” after one medical trial was scrapped.
After announcing his retirement last year, Willis’ family shared that he had dementia in February.
Bruce Willis’ wife Emma Heming Willis has said that she and the rest of the actor’s family “will never lose hope” that scientists will discover and cure dementia.
It was announced in February that the 68-year-old actor has frontotemporal dementia, a degenerative condition that can have signs similar to Alzheimer’s, including memory loss.
In an Instagram post shared over the weekend, Heming, 44 — who has been married to the Hollywood star since 2009 — expressed his disappointment that a recent medical trial for a potential treatment for the condition had been discontinued.
She wrote: “Yesterday I read that Wave Life Sciences ended their clinical trial that could potentially treat frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS.) Where I’m not sure it could have helped us over here, it doesn’t really matter, it still feels like a gut punch.”
“But I always have to look at the silver linings—they are trying,” she continued, before thanking the organizations involved in the trial.
“Please keep that momentum going, build on the learnings/findings and don’t give up on this loving community,” she concluded. “Our family will continue to keep the faith and never lose hope.”
The accompanying images featured various family photos, including one of Willis and Heming’s youngest daughter together, Evelyn, 8, sitting on Willis’ lap and petting the family dog. Another showed Heming walking with their older daughter, Mabel, 11.
The final picture showed a blossoming white rose overlaid with text that read: “Remember to…Never Lose Hope.”
It was announced last year that the “Die Hard” actor was “stepping away” from acting after being diagnosed with aphasia, a condition that can cause loss of speech and difficulty with writing and understanding language.
In a statement shared on his eldest daughter Rumer Willis’ Instagram account, the family said the condition was “impacting his cognitive abilities.”
Willis shares daughters Rumer, 34, as well as her younger sisters, Scout, 31, and Tallulah, 29, with ex-wife Demi Moore.
Last month, a crew member on Willis’ 2020 film, “Midnight in the Switchgrass,” said that the actor appeared to forget he was on set while filming a diner scene in the movie.
Speaking in the ABC News documentary “The Randall Scandal,” prop master Alicia Haverland recalled how Willis addressed her as if she were a waitress when she poured Willis more coffee in order to reset the scene for a new take.
“I go over to repour the coffee, and we’re probably doing number seven or eight, and he puts his hand on the coffee, looks me dead in the eye, and goes, ‘Oh no, ma’am, I don ‘t want anymore,'” Haverland said.
She described Willis’ behavior as “heartbreaking” to watch and said she tried to explain that she was refilling his cup for the scene, and he didn’t understand. Instead, according to Haverland, he asked her if he had ordered more coffee.
Haverland recalled in the documentary that she decided to pretend she was a waitress and told him that he ordered more coffee to finish filming the scene.
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