He talked again about how he had found out on his series Limitless how he had two copies of the Apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene which signifies a higher likelihood of developing the same diagnosis as his father. However, his dad told the actor not to worry.
When he spoke to Shetty in the podcast while he was at his home in Byron Bay in Australia. The down-under actor said, “I remember vividly that conversation of him sort of telling me not to be concerned about it.”
The 42-year-old Hemsworth shared the first few red flags the family noticed in his father as they grew concerned about his health. These were some of the most common ones when it comes to Alzheimer’s.
“The obvious one memory and slight mood changes and shifts and forgetfulness and so on,” Hemsworth said. He said that the test showed both his parents shared the same genetic indicator for the disease as well. This means all three of their sons, Liam, Luke, and Chris, also have two copies of the disease each.
His father first treated it as ‘no big deal’ but then the Marvel actor decided to actively counter this and began thinking of ‘doing something around brain health’ with his dad.
He decided to share his test results with the world, and his father, Craig Hemsworth, was all in. The duo hoped to spread awareness and ‘shed some light’ on Alzheimer’s. They also reckoned they might learn something about the disease on the way.
“He says it in the documentary, but his biggest concern was being a burden. And that was heartbreaking to hear and consider,” Hemsworth shared, he went on to add, “And I had never even, up until we shot the documentary, I didn’t know even how he felt about it, you know, because I hadn’t asked him.”
The Road Trip documentary went on to become a motorcycle journey where the father and son investigate the disease and take a radical approach to therapy for Alzheimer’s.
The duo travel from Melbourne to the Northern Territories, and they try out extreme reminiscence therapy with help from the University of New South Wales, where they explore and recreate areas and times that were important to Craig in his life.
They use their production budget, and the Hemsworth boys go back to a near-perfect recreation of their first family home. The details they got down included the Point Break posters and jars of Vegemite.
When they are looking at their old Melbourne home, Craig asks his son, “Where’s Leonie? She coming?” he said, referring to his wife. He then slips and asks again just a few minutes later, which makes Chris look incredibly concerned.
