Letter | Alzheimer’s Association’s Walk to End Alzheimer

Alzheimer’s Association’s Walk to End Alzheimer

Two years ago, my mother died from Alzheimer’s after living with the brutal effects of this horrible disease for more than 18 years. Alzheimer’s also came for four of her nine siblings. This disease has ravaged my family, community and state.

Mom was a highly intelligent woman, a high school valedictorian, and graduated college with the highest honors. She began reading all that she could about Alzheimer’s and was the first person in our family to realize she was living with the disease. We watched mom's life slip away from Alzheimer’s over the following years, taking with it her body, relationships and hope.

I am a volunteer fundraiser and advocate with the Alzheimer’s Association to bring hope to families like mine who have been impacted by Alzheimer’s. We have come a long way in the past few decades since my mom’s diagnosis, thanks in large part to Congress’s commitment to a national plan to address Alzheimer’s. There are finally FDA-approved treatments, risk reduction research, and resources for families impacted by Alzheimer’s. Our national plan is set to expire, and we cannot stop making progress on Alzheimer's now.

Last week I visited with staff from Sen. John Thune and Rep. Dusty Johnson’s offices in Sioux Falls to share my family’s story and ask for their support of the National Alzheimer's Project Act (NAPA), to extend and build on our national plan to address Alzheimer’s. I am asking them and Sen. Mike Rounds to please make the more than 18,000 South Dakotans living with Alzheimer’s and their loved ones a priority and to please cosponsor this legislation to bring hope to the future of Alzheimer’s and other dementia for families like mine.

Carmen Hanson
Sioux Falls