I had never fully understood much about Alzheimer's - I just thought it was a form of memory loss; but it is so much more. It attacks memory, personality, communication, speech, and on, until a person has nothing left. It is a FATAL disease.
For our class, we read the book, "Big Al" which talks about the true life story of a man in his 50's diagnosed with Alzheimer's and his wife's struggle in caring for him. If you really want a good picture of what Alzheimer's is like, I would highly recommend it. the main reason all this has been on my mind was because today I had the opportunity to spend time in an Alzheimer's Unit at my care facility. I interacted one-on-one with patients in different stages of the disease. From altered realities, personality changes, and communication barriers I learned that this growing disease takes on so many different forms and affects so many different aspects of a person's life. It was an eye-opening experience to the reality of a disease that is too often pushed into the background, misunderstood or overlooked.
The person who discovers a cure to this disease will be discovering a miracle for over 5.4 million people, and their families who are forced to slowly watch them deteriorate.
