Imagine not being able to finish your sentence or forgetting little things frequently. You may have heard of these symptoms but never taken the time to think about them, let alone empathize with someone enduring them. These are some of the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease.
According to Alzheimer's Disease Education and Referral Center, Alzheimer's disease is a form of dementia -- a brain disorder that affects a person's ability to carry out normal activities. There is a loss of nerve cells in areas of the brain that are vital to memory and other mental abilities.
According to latest statistics, 4 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer's. Patients live for eight to 10 years after they are diagnosed.
What people tend to miss, however, is the human face of the suffering. In Staurday's Arizona Republic, Jason Reaves interacts with an Alzheimer's patient, former Chicago policeman Jim Brennan, who was diagnosed with the disease at age 53.
Reaves' article thoughtfully and meticulously documents the process of decline that the patient has suffered. It started with Brennan (who once raced cars as a hobby) being too scared to drive. Later, his hands started to shake while holding a glass of water.
Aside from the obvious symptoms, patients suffer from the mental distress of not being able to carry out a normal conversation or even find their way around the house.
After I read the article, several thoughts crossed my mind.
First, it is amazing how people are getting sicker at younger ages. There was a time when people would not even contemplate having Alzheimer's until they were 70.
Cut to 2005: I know people in their 20s who have hypertension. I know teenagers who are sprouting grey hair. More and more people in their 30s are suffering from glaucoma.
Our ancestors did not have the technology and resources that we take for granted, but they did not have as many diseases this early in their lives either.
Reading about people such as Jim Brennan makes you pause for a second. In the age of instant gratification, we live only for the moment. Our commitment is not to any long and deep-seated purpose, but to existential hedonistic pursuits. We say: "How's it going?" without any real concern for the person at the receiving end of the inquiry.
Diseases such as Alzheimer's make us realize how temporary life is. We may talk to each other as if we have forever to live until the fateful moment arrives. If anything, accounts like these ought to make us care more about the people dear to us.
That said, people who are suffering from Alzheimer's deserve our admiration more than our sympathy. In full knowledge of progressive decline and imminent death, they continue to fight. With help from treatment, family and a new value for each living moment, they make life count for each experience it offers.
As far as treatment is concerned, Dr. Marwan Sabbagh, director of the Cleo Roberts Center for Clinical Research at Sun Health Research Institute, and his fellow researchers are trying their best to make some headway. These researchers are a part of a consortium that includes the top biomedical institutes in the Valley.
America's finest schools have joined in the effort, too. The Stanford Alzheimer's Research Center of California has pooled its resources with the VA Palo Alto Health Care System. A record 694 scientists applied for research funding from the 2004 Alzheimer's Association Research grant. Research trials at the Alzheimer's Association have given results that could accelerate Alzheimer drug development.
Of course there are hiccups in the quest for the cure. Recently, the government halted the Alzheimer's Disease Anti-inflammatory Prevention Trial because of safety concerns about the medicines being used.
Fortunately, even government officials are rallying to the cause. Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., and Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., plan to reintroduce the Ronald Reagan Alzheimer's Breakthrough Bill in Congress.
If passed, the bill would increase funding for Alzheimer's and increase support to Alzheimer's patients and their caregivers. Similar bipartisan consensus would help break the demagogic deadlock over stem-cell research, which could possibly help save lives. There has to be a way we can explore the possibilities of science ethically to help save lives.
The stories of courage of those who suffer and the tenacity of those who seek to end the suffering offer precious hope. After all, there are lots of tomorrows to come.
Nishant Bhajaria is a computer science graduate student. Reach him at nishant.bhajaria@asu.edu.
