Marc Pierrat was diagnosed three years ago with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), a rare brain disorder that can drastically change personality and behavior.

His wife, Julia, now balances caregiving, work and advocacy for other FTD families.

The couple finds love and purpose even as the disease erodes memory and self.

I lost me.

You lost yourself?

Yeah.

Where did you go?

I don’t know. I don’t have a sense of who I am.

Marc Pierrat’s mind once ran as smoothly as the gears on his endurance bike. He was a mechanical engineer by training and a marathoner for fun, a guy who maintained complicated systems at work and a meticulously organized garage at his Westlake Village home.

Three years after his diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia, Marc’s thoughts are a jumble he can’t sort out alone.

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