Aussie solo-mum’s three children diagnosed with childhood dementia

Renee with her three children who have all been diagnosed with dementia. Photo / A Current Affair

For South Australian mum-of-three, Renee Staska, her time with her children is bittersweet. She tries to make the best of each day and create beautiful memories, but she knows their time as a happy family is going to be cut short. Because all three of her children have been diagnosed with childhood dementia.

Appearing on Australian show A Current Affair the diagnosis started with her youngest son who at eight months old was found to have an enlarged liver and spleen.

“They found Niemann-Pick disease type C1, which is a type of childhood dementia. I got given it on a piece of paper and told this is what it is, it was terminal, there was no cure or treatment,” Renee said.

The condition develops when a genetic mutation is present in both parents’ DNA. The finding in her youngest child pointed to a 25 per cent chance Renee’s older two children could also have it.

Devastatingly, blood tests came back positive for Hudson, 8, and Holly 6, and left Staska to proceed through parenthood in a very different way as she began a journey with palliative care for her children who will develop to a certain age and then begin to regress, losing memory and function.

Renee Staska and her three children were introduced to palliative care following their diagnosis. Photo / A Current Affair

Staska says “most children with Niemann-Pick disease type C1 don’t live to see their 20th birthday.”

According to news.com.au, it’s been more than three years since the family’s diagnosis and only now are the children beginning to show dementia symptoms.

For Hudson, keeping up with reading in school has become challenging and for Holly she is experiencing confusion as to why her abilities no longer match her peers’.

Symptoms of dementia in children also include co-ordination difficulties, poor muscle tone, difficulty with swallowing and abnormal eye movement.

In spite of the ever-growing challenges Staska will face, she told A Current Affair that as a mother, she has to get up every day and remain strong for her children.

According to news.com.au, a team at Murdoch University in Perth are working on a drug that could aid children with dementia by reducing the levels of fat their bodies produce.

Dr May Aung-Htut explained that an impact of childhood dementia is an inability to get rid of fat molecules which leads to build up to a point of toxicity, causing brain cells to die.

However, the drug’s availability is unknown and could take 10 months to 20 years before it’s ready.