What comes to your mind when I pose the question, "Who does Alzheimer's affect? Do you think of the patient, spouse, adult children? You would be right. But Alzheimer's affects more. The video says it all..... There isn't a lot of education or talk about Early Onset Alzheimer's Disease, but that is slowly changing. Alzheimer's is striking people in their 40's and 50's, and I've even heard about cases of Alzheimer's patients in their 30's.
As in the case of this 15 year old girl, Brittany, you see that parent's of school age children are developing Alzheimer's. As adults of loved one's with Alzheimer's, we are able to better understand the disease and it's affects on families, but what does Alzheimer's do to school age children who count on a parent for love, support, education and financial support, when their parent is being stolen by this dreadful disease? I can only imagine. Can you?
Increased awareness and education will help us all advocate for a cure, for resources and care options, and funding for families in need. Please take the time to educate yourself on Early Onset Alzheimer's Disease, and pass it on to educate others.
Keep Brittany, her Mom and family, as well as the millions of others affected by Alzheimer's in your thoughts and prayers. Advocate on their behalf. Remember, any family can find themselves affected.
Search Amazon.com for Early Onset Alzheimers
Angil Tarach can be reached for questions or comments at visitingangelswc@comcast.net, or www.visitingangels.com/annarbor
Great post and video! I agree that awareness and education is the best way to advocate for an Alzheimers cure. Thanks for sharing!
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Do you know of any research on how Alzheimer's relatives living with young children (up to the age of 7) affects these children?
ReplyDeleteThank you for the comment and question. I actually don't know of specific research on how Alzheimer's affects small children. Research has been primarily concentrated on cause and a cure. Children of that young age would have difficulty understanding the totality of Alzheimer's. There is an article on how to help children understand on the Mayo Clinic site, which is simplified for young children to understand. Here's the link
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mayoclinic.com/health/alzheimers/HQ00216
If I hear of any research I will post it.