Walking For Grandma
This weekend I participated in my 6th Alzheimer’s Walk to Remember (formerly Memory Walk). The Walk to Remember is the Alzheimer’s Association signature fundraising event and takes place all across the country.
“Alzheimer’s is my greatest fear.”
-Ambassador Andrew Young made that powerful statement in 2010 at another Alzheimer’s fundraising event – Atlanta’s Dancing Stars.
After watching my Mom’s 7-year heartbreaking journey with this devastating disease – Alzheimer’s is also my greatest fear. I fear not only for myself, but even more importantly I don’t want my children to go through what we went through with their Grandma. We lost our Mom to this disease in December of 2010 – one week before her second grandchild was born.
That’s why I’m working hard to see a world without Alzheimer’s – participating in the Walk to Remember, serving as Chairman for 3 of them, and now as a member of the Regional Board for the Alzheimer’s Association.
Alzheimer’s is my greatest fear. Here’s why it should be your greatest fear too:
- Every 69 seconds someone in America is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. By 2050, every 33 seconds someone will develop the disease.
- 5.4 Americans have Alzheimer’s.
- It is the 6th leading cause of death in the US and the only cause of death among the top 10 that cannot be prevented, cured, or even slowed.
- Lifetime risk of developing Alzheimer’s is 1 in 5 for women and 1 in 10 for men.
- Alzheimer’s is also devastating to the family. 14.9 million caregivers in the US provided 17 billion hours of unpaid care at a value of over $200 billion and incurred $7.9 billion in additional health care costs.
- The projected cost of care in the US by 2050 will be $1.1 trillion.