Go Purple- Help End Alzheimer's Disease!

The heart remembers...Today, September 21, 2012, is Alzheimer's Action Day- so put on your PURPLE and help to raise awareness for this devastating disease. Over 35 MILLION people worldwide and 5.4 MILLION Americans are living with Alzheimer's disease (AD). $200 BILLION will be spent in the US alone this year caring for people suffering with AD. This disease slowly invaded my amazing mother's brain, creeping along for over a decade, steadily pulling her away from our family. As we don our purple today, we stand together with every other family who has helplessly witnessed this "long goodbye". I hope and pray we are in the last decade without a cure or full prevention for Alzheimer's.

Significant memory loss is NOT a normal part of aging. Misplacing your keys, forgetting a friend's name at a chance meeting or not being sure why you walked in to a room are frustrating events- but usually a sign of a busy mind focusing on other things. Missing multiple appointments or bills, not knowing how to drive home from your neighborhood store or losing the ability to balance a checkbook (when that used to be a straightforward process) ARE worrisome signs.

Major advances are being made in understanding how Alzheimer disease affects the brain, and the sequence in which it progresses. The hope is to find a way to block that progression, and research dollars donated today will help scientists find that barrier.

BOTTOM LINE: If Alzheimer's disease has touched YOUR life, join in the fight to find a cure and start with wearing PURPLE today!

Thank You, Glen Campbell

Many diseases have the face of a celebrity- we think of Michael J. Fox for Parkinson's, or Katie Couric (on behalf of her husband) for colon cancer. Although President Reagan had Alzheimer's, I don't think there is as strong of a link there. Alzheimer's is the disease we don't want to talk about. It's just too uncomfortable, right?

Well, hat's off to singer Glen Campbell & his wife. Mr. Campbell gave a televised interview last night to openly talk about his experience of memory loss and his diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease. I loudly applaud his public acknowledgement of this relentless disease. I hope that his singing tour will bring increasing awareness to this incredibly common disease. Right now, over 5 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer's disease. I love that Mr. Campbell is highlighting how music memory is something that is preserved...often beyond when the person suffering the memory loss no longer recognizes their family. I have bittersweet memories of singing Christmas carols with my mom- her not skipping a beat nor stumbling on words that I couldn't recall- and she only knew me as a "nice friend," not her youngest daughter.

What's my take-home message here? If you have a loved one with Alzheimer's memory loss, and you struggle to get them to interact with you, consider a song. Old commercials, school fight songs, traditional carols, hymns or anthems are all good choices. I have found in my personal experience that often once the person begins singing, it often "gets the juices flowing" enough that they are able to carry on a conversation (where they were not interested or able when you began your visit.)

BOTTOM LINE: Hitting a communication wall with someone struggling with Alzheimer's? Try a tune!

PS. I recommend sites like ElderSong- a wonderful source for music geared to trigger memories! ( I have no financial interest in this company, but have purchased many sing-along CDs and videos from them.)

World Alzheimer's Day

Today is World Alzheimer's Day, and a new report was released on Capital Hill that documents the global cost of Alzheimer's and related dementias to be more than $600 BILLION, and 70% of the costs occur in North America and Western Europe!! Dementia actually costs 1% of the entire world's GDP (gross domestic product.)

This disease affects all societies, and with our aging population, the cost is anticipated to increase drastically. "People with dementia, their families and friends are affected on personal, emotional, financial and social levels. Lack of awareness is a global problem. A proper understanding of the societal costs of dementia, and how these impact upon families, health and social care services and governments may help to address this problem."

On a personal level, my mother died after a twelve year struggle with Alzheimer's, and now my father is fading away from Parkinson's dementia. The emotional toll alone is devastating, but the financial and time consumption adds dramatically to the burden of this disease. If this illess has not affected your family or loved ones yet, be aware that chances are very high that it will. Increasing awareness of dementia should help focus more attention on research for both cure and prevention of this crippling disease.

BOTTOM LINE: Read the 2010 World Alzheimer's Report for a sobering look at the staggering costs of dementia.