The Devastating Decline of a Brilliant Young Coder (2020)
9 hours ago
- #startup founders
- #identity crisis
- #neurodegenerative disease
- Cloudflare cofounders Matthew Prince and Michelle Zatlyn ring the NYSE bell on September 13, 2019, marking the company's IPO.
- Lee Holloway, Cloudflare's third cofounder and technical genius, was absent from the IPO due to a neurodegenerative disease.
- Lee's early contributions to Cloudflare were foundational, including designing systems that handle 10% of internet requests and block billions of cyberthreats daily.
- Lee's personality and behavior began to change years before the IPO, becoming rigid, belligerent, and disengaged from work and personal relationships.
- Lee was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), a rare neurodegenerative disease that erodes personality, behavior, and selfhood.
- FTD targets brain regions responsible for self-identity, leading to apathy, loss of social awareness, and eventual physical decline.
- Lee's family, including his wife Kristin and parents, struggled to care for him as his condition worsened, leading to his relocation to a specialized care home.
- Despite his condition, fleeting moments of connection, like a random phone call or text, offer glimpses of the person Lee once was.
- Cloudflare's IPO raised $525 million, securing Lee's financial future and enabling specialized long-term care.
- Lee's story raises profound questions about identity, selfhood, and the fragility of the human mind.