Jordan's faith and community connections strong despite rare diagnosis

Successful Sydney-based chef and family man Jordan Rajadurai was going about his day-to-day life until one day in 2018 he felt dizzy and faint. Feeling something was not quite right, the then 52-year-old decided to see his local GP.

Concerned for Jordan’s wellbeing, his GP immediately booked him in for an MRI brain scan.

Jordan’s life was turned upside down in an instant when he learned of his diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia, a rare form of dementia which can affect behaviour, socially inappropriate impulses and even speech.

Confronted with the uncertainty and challenges of such a rare diagnosis Jordan’s decision to relocate to Townsville to be closer to his three daughters and receive the professional support he needed was an easy one.

Thanks to the efforts of the Kirwan Health Campus staff, Jordan met with the selectability support coordination team to start bringing his NDIS plan to life.

Led by Kate Ramskill, the team has worked with Jordan to understand his goals to determine how best to use his NDIS funding to achieve them. For Jordan living independently and remaining connected to his community were vital to living a fulfilling life so securing suitable accommodation was central to this.

Kate said Jordan’s accommodation was a major barrier to him achieving his goal of independence as it was unsuitable and difficult to access. 

“Jordan’s house had stairs that he found difficult to navigate and there were a few other features that meant it was not suited to his needs, said Kate.

“We supported Jordan by speaking to real estate agencies, viewing properties and help him move in and it allowed him to build his own skills in terms of advocating for himself.”

Settled in a Belgian Gardens unit, Jordan said he was now living more independently, meeting new people and socialising in the community, even helping out at his local catholic church.

“I used to be a successful chef so I enjoy teaching other people how to cook and I make sandwich platters and donate them to my church.

“I didn’t want to stay at home and worry about things, I motivated myself by contributing to the church every Sunday,” said Jordan.

Alongside his religious faith, Jordan is well on his way to achieving his future NDIS goals of getting out more and helping the local community and remain as independent as possible in his own home.

Jordan features in our latest Talking Mental Health podcast - you can listen HERE