The ‘extremely heavy weight’ that one half of The FTD Brothers has been carrying and the reasons for his decision to leave his position have been made public.
The FTD Brothers, Jordan and Cian Adams, discovered they both have the genetic mutation after their mother died of frontotemporal dementia (FTD) in 2016.
Jordan clarified in a video posted to social media on Sunday, March 9: “I recently quit my full-time job at the age of 29. I left the corporate world to find a purpose, and heartbreak was the reason I didn’t exactly fit in at my position.
When Jordan received a diagnosis of “a rare type” of FTD in June 2010 at the age of 47, he said his “life was changed forever.”
You may be familiar with FTD because actor Bruce Willis has also been diagnosed with this rare form of dementia, which often begins at a younger age.
Jordan went on: “And life has been throwing me more and more s**t ever since that day.
“I was my mom’s primary caregiver at the age of 15, along with my dad and two siblings, and it’s been really challenging to manage.”
“We cared for mom for six years in the family home until she eventually lost her life in March 2016 at age of of 52.”
Jordan disclosed that he discovered he is “a carrier of a genetic mutation which means [he] too will live with FTD” when his mother died when he was only 23.
“I’ll experience symptoms in my forties and start to lose my life by the time I’m 45,” Jordan asserts. “As you can imagine, that’s an incredible tough burden to carry and it’s the main reason why at 29 years of age, I’ve decided to quit my job, get out the rat race and try and change the world of dementia.”
Since receiving his diagnosis in 2018, Jordan has been attempting to ‘find a solution for all varieties of dementia’ and transform the negativity into’something really good’ by taking part in ‘running challenges,’ starting with a marathon.
But after finishing his first challenge, he learned that his brother would likewise “die of FTD” in his 40s and that he had been “diagnosed with the same gene mutation.”
The infant ‘was a carrier of the genetic mutation’ as well, Jordan continues, so he and his wife decided to terminate their pregnancy.
@theftdbrothers Help me build this legacy 🧡 together we can cure dementia #ForACure ♬ original sound – xavier
Jordan thinks that by sharing films of his life over the past 12 months online, he will “show people that no matter your circumstances, no matter the cards you dealt with, you have a choice at how you play your hand,” even though the “last 15 years of [his] life” have been “pretty s**t.”
“I want to demonstrate to them that you can remain overwhelmingly optimistic. It is a privilege to be here in the first place, and you can still enjoy life and make the most of every moment we have left.”
Jordan is now ‘doing this mission of advocacy full time’ after quitting his job, and he and his brother intend to complete a marathon in each Irish county in 2026.
Jordan says, “The big dream is to run coast-to-coast America for a cure and take this mission global but more than anything, I want to create a legacy so when the time comes and I leave this Earth, people remember The FTD Brothers and the foundation we set up.”
