I looked at a photo of my aunt Lorraine today that was taken on Easter (my mother's sister) on Facebook and she looks rough. She is thin (lost a lot of weight), no expression, withdrawn same blank stare as my father. I am very shocked. She was a vibrant woman with 8 children, a loving husband and a hard worker. Now she is a shell of herself and I fear she doesnt have much longer . I won't say much to the daughters, but she has all the same symptoms of my mother. Both my parents got dementia . I am beside myself. .
Now my Dad, his Mom and Aunt had ALZ. Out of 8 children my GM had 2 were diagnosed with ALZ. Others died early so not sure if they would have had it. The Aunt had 3 children and the daughter had it. ALZ does run in families.
Some dementias do tend to run in families and have some hereditary components; some less so, if you look them up.
If you speak with one of the man children of your aunt I would bet you find she is suffering from the same decline her sister had, but hard to tell from just a photo. I mean we all age, and none of us get the prettier for it! Some of us are more photogenic than others as well; I come off always looking quite SEVERE. Perhaps I AM quite severe?