Don't let fight against Alzheimer's slip

As a longtime volunteer with the Alzheimer's Association, I find the recent resignation of Speaker John Boehner and the possibility of a government shutdown in December very troubling.

The federal budget provides funding for the National Institutes of Health, which in turn are the largest funder of projects looking for a cure for Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.

Alzheimer's causes all who develop it to die slow, silent, painful deaths, and is the only leading killer for which there is no cure or treatment that can even slow the progression of the disease.

Political games must not take a higher priority than these people and their families, especially given the economic costs of inaction. Alzheimer's patients are the most expensive to treat in our country, estimated at more than $150 billion this year and rising to more than $1 trillion as our population ages.

I take comfort in the fact that our Congresswoman, Jan Schakowsky, has always fought for additional NIH funding, and is a leading member of the Congressional Task Force on Alzheimer's, a bipartisan group of legislators who understand the importance of this issue.

While the politics of the leadership change plays out over the next several weeks, I call on Schakowsky and her colleagues to make sure progress toward finding a cure for Alzheimer's does not slip through the cracks.

Kathy Nellis

Northbrook