On September 15, 60 Minutes re-aired a segment on frontotemporal degeneration that was originally broadcast this past May.

AFTD provided the show’s producers with background information on FTD, and connected them with Bruce Miller, MD. Dr. Miller, who leads a robust FTD program at the University of California San Francisco and is a founding member of AFTD’s Medical Advisory Council, was the medical expert featured in the piece.

AFTD also connected producers with the Very Rev. Tracey Lind, who was diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia in 2016, and Amy Johnson, a mother of four young children whose husband has behavioral variant FTD, both of whom were also profiled in the story.

When it originally aired in May, the story had an immediate and measurable impact on FTD awareness — a testament to the importance of sharing FTD stories. AFTD’s website had its highest-traffic day ever on May 5; May 6 was not far behind. All told, nearly 89,000 users accessed theaftd.org in May 2019, nearly five times the number of users from the previous May.

Inquiries to AFTD’s HelpLine also rose following the broadcast. AFTD staff provided practical, compassionate and medically accurate information in response to 351 HelpLine calls and emails in May 2019, up from 210 HelpLine cases in May 2018.