Wife, 39, fighting dementia hoping to make new memories before old ones are 'taken away'

A woman fighting dementia aged just 39 is fundraising to create new memories with her family before they are "taken away."

Laura Borrell was told she was battling the neurological disorder at only 38, forcing her to give up a law degree and leaving her too nervous to leave the house.

Now her family have started fundraising in the hope she and her husband can go on a trip-of-a-lifetime to America.

In June 2015, tests revealed Ms Borrell was suffering from frontotemporal degenerative dementia - usually found in the over-65s.

Doctors have warned she will lose her short-term memory and may even fail to recognise her husband, Philip, 41.

Ms Borrell, who has been married for five years, went for tests after she began slurring words, appearing forgetful and failing to recognise voices of family members.

Having been diagnosed, the former law student - who was studying at the University of London - decided to drop out.

Now she hopes to create new memories before her old ones start to fade.

"I want to create memories with Philip before my ability to take things in is taken from me completely," she said.

"So now we're racing against the clock, knowing my cognitive functions are likely to get much worse in the next few years."

On a GoFundMe page, Ms Borrell's mother said that her daughter's dreams of becoming a mother had been dashed by the dementia and other illnesses.

"Laura is kind, gentle, clever and funny. She'd have made a wonderful mother, but the diseases she suffers from means she's unable to have children, which adds to her sadness," her mother wrote.

She added: "This illness isn't much spoken about, but its effects are devastating.

"She feels this this way too. So sad to hear her cry to feel so isolated and trapped by this condition."

In a plea on GoFundMe, fundraisers said they hoped donations would allow Ms Borrell to travel with her husband to the US when she turns 40 in December.