// BBC UK NEWS — CRONACA
Would you take a test to see if your life will be cut short? I did - and it changed me
Laura Sides faced a dilemma of whether to get tested to see if she had inherited her father's condition
If you could find out if you had a gene that would cut your life short, would you?
This is the dilemma Laura Sides faced when she was offered a test for the rare form of early onset dementia that her dad was diagnosed with in his 40s.
Laura spoke to Dr Sian Williams, host of BBC Radio 4's Life Changing podcast, about her decision to take the test and how it has shaped the rest of her life.
Growing up, Laura says she always felt close to her dad as they had a "similar nature". He was a GP and "the most amazing doting father," she says. When his Alzheimer's symptoms became more severe, Laura dropped out of university to care for him.
"We did have a really lovely time," she says, remembering trips to a lighthouse and collecting coasters. "I'd run him baths and just play music and pour jugs of hot water over his head and he loved it."
Laura had just celebrated her 21st birthday when she began caring for her dad
It was at a hospital appointment with her dad when a doctor told Laura she had a 50/50 chance of developing the same type of early onset Alzheimer's known as the "London variant".
"All I could think was, that's a toss of a coin," she says. "I was still so involved with what was going on with him [her dad]. I just pushed it really, really deep down."
Laura's dad died in 2009, just a year after her mum had died.