Why Alzheimer's fight must go on

Recent decades have seen an extraordinary shift in our expectations when we are confronted with what once were terminal illnesses.

With access to quality healthcare, HIV can now be managed for decades and many forms of cancer that were once death sentences are now treatable.

I decided to write this letter after seeing an Alzheimer's Association-produced video that challenged viewers to realize that, with the dedication and resources that have successfully turned the tables on other previously terminal illnesses, the first Alzheimer's disease survivor could be alive right now.

Americans must understand that finding a treatment for Alzheimer's disease is as critical as continuing to increase survival rates of HIV and various forms of cancer. More than 5.4 million people in our country have Alzheimer's and it is the only disease in the top ten causes of death for which no prevention, treatment or cure exists - it is 100 percent lethal. As a result, this year alone, the federal government will spend more than $160 billion caring for people with Alzheimer's, and as the baby boomer generation ages, this number will grow every year, with the generations to come forced to pay the bill.

In my role as an Alzheimer's Association Ambassador, I work with other advocates to build congressional support for funding Alzheimer's research. U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam has supported increasing federal research funding in the past, but we still have yet to hit even half of the $2 billion per year level that National Institutes of Health leaders say is necessary to beat this disease, so we need his support again. With the past history of successes that we have seen from the NIH, we can expect our investments to pay off - as long as we make them.

Not only is the first survivor of Alzheimer's out there, millions more are.

Hannah Zerphey

Downers Grove