Bruce Willis' wife Emma Heming has shared a new picture of her husband with their daughter, as she shared the news that a clinical trial for frontotemporal dementia (FTD) had ended without results.
Earlier in 2023 the family revealed that his previous aphasia diagnosis was actually frontotemporal dementia.
"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," Emma captioned the carousel of pictures which began with Evelyn, eight, sitting on a swing with their pet dog.
A second picture showed Emma and Mabel, 11, walking arm in arm and the third featured 68-year-old Bruce with his face hidden, sitting with Mabel on his lap.
MORE: Inside Bruce Willis and wife Emma Heming's loving relationship
Emma continued: "But I always have to look at the silver linings—they are trying. So I want to say thank you to Wave Life Sciences also to Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation and AFTD who played an active role through the Treat FTD Fund program. Please keep that momentum going, build on the learnings/findings and don’t give up on this loving community. Our family will continue to keep the faith and never lose hope."
The Willis family first shared the difficult health update in February, in a joint Instagram post detailing Bruce's tragic decline in health.
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They wrote at the time: "Our family wanted to start by expressing our deepest gratitude for the incredible outpouring of love, support and wonderful stories we have all received since sharing Bruce's original diagnosis."
The statement further explained that his initial aphasia diagnosis had sadly worsened into a more specific diagnosis, it being FTD, which they described as: "A cruel disease that many of us have never heard of and can strike anyone. For people under 60, FTD is the most common form of dementia, and because getting the diagnosis can take years, FTD is likely much more prevalent than we know."
There are currently no treatments for the disease. Die Hard star Bruce will celebrate Father's Day next month with Emma and their two daughters, and his former wife Demi Moore and their three grown daughters, Rumer, Scout and Tallulah.
Even after their 2000 divorce, Demi and Bruce have maintained a tight-knit, blended family, and Emma and Demi are close.
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