It's time for the 2008 Alzheimer's Memory Walk! Walks are being held in more than six hundred communities across the United States this fall, with over 200,000 participants, to raise money for Alzheimer's research. Did you know that Alzheimer's disease is the sixth leading cause of death in the US? Every seventy-one seconds, someone is diagnosed with Alzheimer's. My boss' mother just passed away from the disease last year.
I've talked a lot about how much I hate cancer, and how it's taken so many people from my life. I'm fortunate not to have lost anyone close to Alzheimer's, so I haven't paid it as much attention. But it, too, is a horrible disease I hope to never have any personal experience with. Cancer may rob people of their strength, their bodies, and many times their lives, but Alzheimer's robs a person of their very self - their identity and an entire lifetime of experiences and memories. Can you imagine living out your final days not knowing who you are, or who anyone else around you is?
If you can, please consider joining a Memory Walk in your community. If there isn't one, why not start one yourself? You can even join the "Virtual Memory Walk" online if you can't attend one in person. Let's work to wipe another killer off the face of the earth.
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