The signs appeared gradually about 10 years ago.

Known all her life for her eloquence in five languages she suddenly struggled to think of the right words.

She started repeating herself, recounting the same story or asking the same question.

But she knew she wasnt fine.

It would take seven years ofmisdiagnoses and dismissalsbefore Garcias gut feeling was validated.

There were other doctors in between who checked me and said, Youre fine, Garcia recalls.

I knew something was wrong.

I felt like I was losing my skills.

I was forgetting how to do things, she says.

As she increasingly lost autonomy, she felt frustrated, diminished.

The diagnosis puzzled Garcia, who says shed always been highly organized and focused.

When I got that ADD diagnosis, I had tears of joy, Garcia says.

It wasnt a death sentence.

We all know how Alzheimers ends.

But the ADD medication made no difference, and Garcias symptoms worsened.

The changes she was experiencing didnt make sense.

She excelled again in her next career, in higher education.

But Garcia found herself increasingly struggling to do her job.

Icouldnt keep track of things, she recalls.

That was very painful; it was a very difficult time, she says.

Then came theCOVID-19 pandemic, and Garcia was furloughed from her job.

There were multiple electronic systems, Garcia says.

There was Zoom over here, Apple over there.

It was so much, I couldnt do it.

I couldnt manage the technology.

Garcia kept pushing for more medical tests.

I failed resoundingly, she says.

Doctors dont understand why most cases of early-onset Alzheimers appear at such a young age.

But in a few hundred families worldwide, scientists have pinpointed several rare genes that directly cause Alzheimers.

People who inherit these rare genes tend to develop symptoms in their 30s, 40s and 50s.

Some 300,000 to 360,000 people in the U.S. have early-onset Alzheimers, the Mayo Clinic estimates.

Perhaps because she is still verbal and presents well, she says, he just didnt believe it.

It was so frustrating.

A turning point

Experts are unsure what exactly causes early-onset Alzheimers.

A family history of the disease is the only known risk factor, according to Johns Hopkins University.