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Actor Bruce Willis in 1989, when he first became a household name for portraying David Addison, Jr. on the hit television show “Moonlighting.” [Photo by Alan Light]
But in March this year, Willis’s family announced that he is “stepping away” from his acting career because of aphasia, a neurological disorder that impairs communication.
In Pasadena, Dr. Arbi Ohanian, Medical Director of the Huntington Hospital Comprehensive Stroke Center said that aphasia is not a disease but rather a symptom, which can be caused by different conditions like stroke, dementia and brian tumors.
“It (aphasia) is an extremely disabling condition where it puts people in a position where they’re unable to communicate, socialize, speak to other individuals,” Dr. Ohanian said.
According to the Mayo Clinic, a person with aphasia may:
• Speak in short or incomplete sentences
• Speak in sentences that don’t make sense
• Substitute one word for another or one sound for another
• Speak unrecognizable words
• Not understand other people’s conversation
• Write sentences that don’t make sense
“There are a lot of conditions that can cause aphasia,” Dr. Ohanian said. “The common cause we see is people have a stroke and one of the symptoms of the stroke can be aphasia. Sometimes people have dementia and different types of dementia can lead to aphasia. People have tumors in that part of the brain that can lead to aphasia.”
The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders defines aphasia as a disorder that impairs the expression and understanding of language as well as reading and writing. The disorder, the Institute said, results from damage to portions of the brain that are responsible for language.
For most people, aphasia could occur suddenly, often following a stroke or head injury, but it may also develop slowly, as the result of a brain tumor or a progressive neurological disease.
The treatment for aphasia depends on the cause of aphasia, Dr. Ohanian said.
“When it comes to conditions like dementia and primary progressive aphasia, there really are not many treatments at all, other than speech and cognitive therapy, which can hopefully help a little bit with the patient’s ability to communicate, but there’s no treatment for the underlying condition.”
Dr. Andrezza M. Souza, a neurologist with Kaiser Permanente Baldwin Park, said 180,000 new cases of aphasia are recorded per year on average. Kaiser Permanente’s Southern California regional office is located in Pasadena.
“It’s part of the presentation in about one-third of strokes,” Souza said. “An estimated one in every 250 people are currently living with aphasia.”
Souza added that the first step people who suspect aphasia should take is to present themselves for evaluation as soon as symptoms start so it would be easier to trace the underlying condition that has led to the symptoms of aphasia.
“If it is caused by conditions such as a tumor or infection in the brain, treatment would be to target the underlying cause,” Dr. Souza said. “If it presents very suddenly concerning for a stroke, it is very important to call 911, as there is a specific time limit for receiving treatment for stroke. But even with treatment, at times the ability to communicate may be affected in the long term depending on the stroke.”
At Huntington Hospital’s Comprehensive Stroke Center, Dr. Ohanian’s speciality is stroke. “So most of the aphasia I deal with is related to patients who have a stroke and have aphasia,” Dr. Ohanian said.
Other doctors at the Center who are more specialized in dementia, deal with aphasia from a dementia perspective. “But all neurologists deal with aphasia, and so all the neurologists at Huntington, one way or the other, would be caring for patients with aphasia,” he said.
Members of Willis’ family, including ex-wife Demi Moore and daughter Rumer, announced on March 30 that the action star would step away from acting after the diagnosis was released.
“This is a really challenging time for our family and we are so appreciative of your continued love, compassion and support,” Moore wrote on Instagram.
