Estelle Getty, Golden Girl, Dies with Lewy Body Dementia

American actress Estelle Getty, known for her role as Spohia on the sitcom Golden Girls, died today at age 84. Sources say she suffered from Lewy Body dementia which may have contributed to her death.

Lewy Body dementia is one of the most common forms of dementia in which patients hallucinate, have memory loss and exhibit a loss of motor function similar to Parkinson’s disease. Lewy Body dementia occurs when tiny protein deposits form in the brain’s nerve cells and slowly make the brain deteriorate. 

Sources close to Estelle Getty say that she had been suffering from Lewy Body dementia for years and that she died gracefully.

For more information on Lewy Body dementia, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dementia_with_Lewy_bodies

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