After two years of searching for answers to explain why she didn’t feel ‘quite right,’ Tracey Lane was diagnosed with FTD in her early 50s, a time she had once thought would be full of excitement as she and her husband looked forward to retirement.

In a personal account told by the magazine GoodtoKnow, Lane reflects on her FTD journey and the ways in which she has learned to accept her diagnosis. Throughout the piece, she describes the onset of her symptoms and how despite multiple doctor’s visits in which she was prescribed medication for depression and menopause, her condition continued to decline.

She also writes about coming to terms with her diagnosis and how she draws support from family and several dementia-related support groups.

“For a while after the diagnosis, dementia was the first thing I thought about in the morning when I woke up, and it was the last thing on my mind before I fell asleep each night,” she writes. “…But after the initial shock, I came to realize that I couldn’t waste whatever precious time I had left wallowing and feeling sorry for myself.”

A grandmother of two, Lane is now focused on continuing to make memories with her family, even if one day dementia robs her of the ability to recognize who they are: “If the day eventually comes when I no longer recognize their faces, I want them to be able to look back, remember the good times, and know just how much I loved them.”

You can read Lane’s story here.