Saturday, August 11, 2007

Get on the MOVE for Alzheimer's

Alzheimer's is a terrible disease that affects more than five million people in the United States alone! Every seventy-two seconds, someone develops Alzheimer's. It is a progressive and serious brain disease, for which we have no cure.

The first known case of the disease was a woman named Auguste D., who was treated by Dr. Alois Alzheimer in 1901. She became bedridden very quickly, and died in 1906, of infections from bedsores and pneumonia. Since he had never seen anyone like Auguste before, Dr. Alzheimer got the family's permission to perform an autopsy. He found dramatic shrinkage in her brain, especially of the cortex. And under the microscope he found widespread fatty deposits and dead and dying cells. The disease was entered into the medical literature in 1907.

One hundred years - and we still have no cure. That is mind-boggling and heartbreaking. We need to get on the MOVE to finding a cure! And there is one way that we all can do that! There are walks happening around the country to raise money for awareness and to find a cure for this horrible condition. The walks are spearheaded by the Alzheimer's Association and are called Memory Walks. I'm sure you can find one in your area. I live in a little bitty town and I found one just forty miles from me - I was really impressed with that!

You can sign up as a Team Captain for the Memory Walk, and recruit people to walk with you and to help raise funds. It would be great to sign up early, so you can get a start on your fundraising. Oh, and the walks are really great, because, they are only two to three mile walks. So even those of us not in the best of shape should be able to handle it just fine!



2 comments:

lattégirl said...

There is a conspiracy theory out there... which applies mainly to cancer, but could equally well apply to Alz.

That theory is... that "they" have the cure, but "they" are too busy raking in research $$ to actually share it with the world.

What do you think... realm of the possible, yes?

Unknown said...

Funny you should mention that, actually - because, as I was writing that, I had the 'conspiracy theories' bubbling around in the back of my brain!