A Day Late and a Dollar Short
I’ve written on this before, but one of Neil Gaiman‘s latest blog posts brought the issue to mind again, and I very nearly missed the deadline to add my own thoughts to the open forum discussion on this topic.
You see, my grandmother has Alzheimer’s disease. She is at a very late, advanced stage. She is no longer easily able to form entire words, much less sentences, she does not recognize her daughters, grandchildren, or husband. She has to be fed, or she forgets to eat any food placed in front of her, and she has to wear diapers, for she has forgotten how to use a toilet or clean herself. And yet, her body, such as it is, remains fairly healthy. She exists lost in a mind that has become so twisted and tangled that she cannot find her way out.
There is no hope that she will ever regain her memory, that she will ever be able to function normally again, that she will ever regain the dignity she has lost.
But Alzheimers is a hereditary disease. She was not the first in our family to have it, all of her sisters had it. It’s probable that my aunt, my mother, my cousins, or myself will one day face this same thing.
Stem-cell research is the only research avenue offering hope for a real result, perhaps not a cure, perhaps only a stay-of-execution….but of a far better and more successful result than any of the current medicines can offer.
If you have anything to say on this topic, whatsoever…please visit the links mentioned here: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dd5vs2xt_0hkwp6xd8 and let your voice be heard.
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