As I held her hand the day mom took her last breath, it was a blurry day for me. If only there had been a cure, a way to have stopped what took her so early in life.
We’re supposed to age gracefully and live past 70, aren’t we?
Mom died of vascular dementia five years ago, after a total of 15 + years battling her failing health. She was 70 years old. She missed her 71st birthday by just shy of 3 months. Diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and strokes lead her on a path to living with vascular dementia in her final years of life.
Mom’s destiny, unfortunately, was determined by the diseases she had overtaking her body and life. She made choices leading to much of her health problems, had she known better, perhaps she would have made different choices? Only God knows. Once dementia set in, her ability to make healthy choices, simply didn’t exist.
There currently isn’t a cure for dementia.
If we could find the panacea for dementia, we’d all be rich in more ways than one. We’d be saving our country and the whole world billions, upon billions of dollars. We’d also be healthy and living much longer. But yet, we don’t. Why is that? I often wonder. Do we think it is easier to live with dementia instead? Do we doubt dementia is really that prevalent? The facts tell us otherwise.
Every 66 seconds someone in the United States develops the disease.
Dementia has many forms, it doesn’t discriminate nor is it stoppable, curable, or preventable once the disease begins. The disease causes irreversible brain damage. It isn’t a normal part of aging. We should all want to learn as much as we can about early warning signs or the prevalence. It is easy for us to use our healthy brains to find ways to prevent it before it starts. It is simply a choice to be made. (Check out this short video from the Alzheimer’s Association – their website contains great information.)
The known facts about dementia should scare the hell out of us.
But yet, it only seems to scare us or move us to action if we are personally affected by it or our loved one is. I know that was my case. Even though I know better now, my lack of knowledge back then lead up to a loss greater than words can describe. If only I had known more.
Alzheimer’s is the 6th leading cause of death in the US.
And it continues to be on the rise. It kills more than breast and prostate cancer combined. 5 million Americans are living with the most common form of dementia – Alzheimer’s. By 2050 that number could rise to 16 million.
1 in 3 seniors dies from some form of dementia.
If the predictions are right, we are simply not prepared as a society to pay for the cost of care or treatment of the comorbidities often associated with our poor health routines leading up to the diagnosis or development of dementia. As a baby boomer, the generation expected to push the numbers affected over the 16 million mark, I know I’m terrified to think of the rapid rate of growth of the disease.
We have to find a way to stop dementia before it starts.
So far, the only forms of prevention are lifestyle changes early on, focus on healthy gut regimens, and EXERCISE! What’s good for the heart is good for the brain.
I find time every day for exercise to help give myself better odds. But is that enough?
It is only a start of panacea. I encourage you to do what you can today, to help yourself tomorrow. You and your loved ones deserve a life without dementia! And if you are caring for someone with dementia, my heart goes out to you – treasure every moment and hug your loved one every chance you get!
