Alzheimer’s Is the New HIV

Editor's note: this piece orginally appeared on David's personal blog It is not every day that I walk out of a medical school lecture truly inspired. The topic was on HIV and how far we have come in the treatment and management of the disease. We’ve all heard how “HIV is no longer a death sentence,” but actually going through the details on how much success we’ve had in treating HIV is amazing. I remember learning about HIV in school when I was in 5th grade. I recall seeing pictures of the progression of someone who had HIV and didn’t

G8: Leading a Global Response to Alzheimer's

Editor's Note: This blog post originally appeared on Huffington Post Breaking news: Political leader delivers on promise. To wit: The British government has just announced that it will host a G8 Summit in December dedicated to Alzheimer's and Dementia. The announcement of the London event delivers on Prime Minister David Cameron's pledge to use the UK's Presidency of the G8 to launch a global initiative to address Alzheimer's disease. Mr. Cameron's leadership is a notable victory not only for those who suffer from Alzheimer's, but for families, communities and society at large. The prevalence of Alzheimer's is exploding around the

5 Things to Never Say to a Person With Alzheimer's

Editor's note: This blog post originally appeared on Huffington Post Yesterday afternoon, I walked into the spacious room belonging to Mary, a woman with dementia who has few visitors and with whom I've volunteered to spend a little time every week. I greeted her, complimented her on her beautiful turquoise sweater, and shook her hand. Then I sat down at her little table that was overflowing with books, photographs, the newspaper and other items she wants to keep close at hand. I started off by picking up a small framed photo of Mary with her husband and three children --

The Invisible Victims of Alzheimer’s Disease: Family Caregivers

Editor's note: This piece originally appeared in the July 2013 edition of the LEAD Coalition newsletter, which you can read online here To a few close family and friends who know me as a longtime caregiver and advocate for my aging parents and (more recently) my in-laws, I have done the impossible: survived 17 years of struggling to support the needs of three-out-of-four parents who have either died from, or currently struggle with, some form of dementia. To the rest of the world, I am invisible. At 46 years old, I am a small business owner, I have a college

Was My Mom Abused?

Editor's note: This piece originally appeared on Trish's AARP Blog On July 2, USA Today reported that more than 20 former employees of a Georgia Alzheimer's care center are facing dozens of criminal charges after a three-month state investigation uncovered allegations of cruel treatments of patients. The cruelty ranged from physical abuse - slapping patients and throwing water on them - to outright neglect and financial exploitation. Other abuse included shackling patients to their beds with sheets and 'double diapering' so the staff wouldn't have to change soiled diapers so often. As it turns out, various staff members had prior

A Long, Long Way From Home

Editor's note: this piece originally appeared on Lisa's blog, My Mom, My Hero This was probably 1942 right after my mom and dad had gotten married. Dad enlisted in the Navy and mom went to work on a army base in Brooklyn, N.Y. This was over seventy years ago. Unfortunately dad passed away 18 years ago and mom has no recollection of any of this. Today my mom is not sure where her home is. When she is having a hard day she repeats many times that she wants to go home, and it is always the home that belonged

We Are Women, Hear Us Roar

Editor's note: This piece originally appeared on Huffington Post Impact Okay, so here is the Alzheimer's disease reality: Women are twice as likely as men to have Alzheimer's. Women are also twice as likely as men to be caretakers of Alzheimer's victims. Have I gotten your attention yet? We of the gentler, weaker, more adaptable sex are screwed. We're talking big numbers -- of the 5,100,000 victims of this fatal disease, 3,400,000 are women. Of the 15,000,000 caregivers, 10,000,000 are women. Many of these women have to quit their jobs because tending to Alzheimer's patients is a 24-7 job with

Ally K. - My Tribute to Daddy

My Daddy passed away from Alz in 1996..I wrote this in tribute to him the Fathers Day 0f 1996, later that week he passed away. I didnt know at the time I when wrote this, that I would someday have the right venue to share my feelings of what I was going through. I hope this helps someone out there who is living through this nightmare now as a caregiver and son or daughter of your loving Daddy. There is a stranger I've come to know... He started showing up about five years ago. He was subtle in his arrival

How do I change what I say?

A few months ago one of my friends mentioned that I am always talking about things related to Alzheimer’s. While I know I spend my days advocating for this disease I did not realize I was that bad. Especially with those I am not trying to convince or influence. Although I appreciate the person telling me, it has really bothered me. I started to give it some thought and tried to understand why and what I could do to change that. Not too long after that my wife made a similar comment, and that really hit home because their comments

My Promises

Editor's note: This piece originally appeared on Karen's personal blog ' Missing Jim' TO FRANCES AND BRAD, MY BEAUTIFUL, LOVING, INTELLIGENT CHILDREN: My promises to you: I promise to try to stay sane through this whole long process. Sometimes I don’t feel like I will be able to, but when I am with you, I know I can. I promise to love you with all of my heart. Loving someone doesn’t mean giving them ice cream and chocolate every day. I promise to love your Dad too, even when he makes me want to pull my hair out and go