A grandparent has opened up about the early warning signs that led to her grandchild’s devastating dementia diagnosis.

Sabrina Peake said her granddaughter Esmay Ford, who is five, stopped talking at the age of two.

She was also constantly “picking up colds”, remaining ill “for weeks at a time”, and her hair was falling out in “big clumps”, according to the Mail Online.

Esmay’s mum Alisha Morris was concerned for her daughter, so she took her to the doctor’s and was told she had an autoimmune disease and overactive thyroid.

But after genetic testing more recently, the family were given the heartbreaking news that their daughter has Sanfilippo syndrome, a rare form of childhood dementia.

Children with this disease lack an enzyme which breaks down large sugar molecules. As the molecules accumulate in the cells of the body, they cause irreparable damage to the organs, including the brain.

Symptoms of childhood dementia

Childhood dementia occurs because of progressive brain damage. It is caused by over 100 rare genetic disorders, which children are born with, according to the Childhood Dementia Initiative.

It’s estimated one in........

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