Barbara was in the prime of her life when she was diagnosed with FTD. As a practicing Dietician and Certified Diabetic Educator, Barbara was dedicated and loved helping others. Though Barbara’s condition cannot be reversed this fund supporting research and education of FTD will allow Barbara to continue her life’s work of helping others. Barbara’s Dream Fund for Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD) is used for research and education activities while searching for a cure for FTD, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and other forms of dementia. The fund will allow promising scientists and clinicians to further their work in solving the mysteries of FTD. Housed in the McKnight Brain Institute at UF, the fund will support the strongest work across the University of Florida community.

Frontotemporal dementia is a progressive degenerative brain disease that gradually destroys the ability to function appropriately, empathize with others, learn, reason, make judgments, communicate, and carry out daily activities. In people under the age of 60 FTD is the most common cause of dementia and affects as many people as Alzheimer’s disease in the 45-64 age group. There is no treatment or cure yet that can reverse the damage but medications and lifestyle changes can help relieve the symptoms. For medical questions related to FTD, please call (352) 273-5550.

Gifts can be made via credit card, check, transfers of stock, real estate, or planned gifts such as wills, trusts, and annuities. For information about the fund, please contact Stephen Figueroa in the College of Medicine, at 352-273-7986 or sfig@ufl.edu. Tax deductible contributions can be mailed to PO Box 100243, Gainesville, FL 32610 (checks made payable to the UF Foundation with “Barbara’s Dream” on the memo line).