There has been a flurry of news articles jumping out this past week in the wake of the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference held in Chicago last week. I’ve read them all. Lots of interesting stuff and cutting edge research happening. My conclusion after reading everything is: we still don’t really know what causes it and (therefore) we still don’t really know how to cure it.
The truth is, I always call Mitzi “The Poster Child For Who Probably Shouldn’t Have Alzheimer’s Disease” because she has long been a huge advocate for her health. She eats salads nearly every day. Doesn’t care for red meat at all. Doesn’t drink. Walks for miles and miles. Works out at least 3 times a week and did yoga for years (she even taught my youngest son a few poses!). She eats yogurt all the time (probiotics for the win!). She has never smoked. Doesn’t have an insane work week pushing her stress level to the max. And she has a phenomenal faith. I could go on and on. Her body is in pretty awesome shape, especially for being 57.
But her brain doesn’t care about all that stuff.
Her brain is hell-bent on self destruction as it shrinks in its ever-crowding compartment being taken over by a rapidly multiplying production of tangles and plaques that we can’t seem to find the off switch for. The only time I’ve ever heard Mitzi get mildly angry about her diagnosis was when she talked about “doing all the right things yet getting this disease.” It is maddening.
I recently saw a billboard for a hospital that had a picture of 2 people smiling at each other. The one person had her arm reassuringly draped around the other. It said, simply, “Love to the rescue. Bringing hope and healing.”
I don’t know when or how the cure for this ugly, unfair disease will come. But I have faith that as the epidemic continues its relentless march across the landscape of our society, scientists will run faster and more furiously towards finding a cure. No doubt in my mind. Until then, I’m choosing to treat Alzheimer’s the only way I can…just like that billboard so poignantly encouraged: by bringing hope and healing and love to the rescue…????
