The Alzheimer’s Project on HBO

Last Thursday I was privileged to have the honor to be one of the members of The Silicon Valley Moms Blog group to take part in a private conference call with Maria Shriver. Yep, Maria Shriver. For those of you that don’t know who she is, she’s kind of a big deal. A really big deal. She’s an award winning journalist. She’s an author. She’s a member of the Kennedy family. She’s married to the Terminator the Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger. She’s heavily involved with the Special Olympics (her Mom helped found it). She’s an Alzheimer’s advocate. She’s a beautiful woman. She’s a Mom. See what I mean by big deal? (Hmmm. I guess I do have a girl crush.)

My Grandma suffered from Alzheimer’s back when they didn’t call it Alzheimer’s. At first we thought she was just a little loopy. We even giggled a couple of times. We were ignorant kids that learned quickly that what Grandma was going through was no joke.

The conference call with Maria was about her work on the HBO documentary The Alzheimer’s Project. The documentary consists of four parts, the first premiering last night. Maria’s father had Alzheimer’s and she wrote a book about it entitled “What’s Happening To Grandpa?”. She is featured in the second segment in the series, “Grandpa Do You Know Who I Am?”, which airs tonight. HBO has made this documentary available to everyone, subscribers and non-subscribers, by streaming it online as well as airing it on television.

Some of the things I learned on the conference call with Maria Shriver are that

• every 70 seconds someone new deals with Alzheimer’s
• 70% of Alzheimer’s patients live at home
• 76% of the unpaid caregivers for Alzheimer’s patients are women

Our call touched on a number of other points as well. The reason we’re seeing more instances of Alzheimer’s is because people are living longer. The financial toll that Alzheimer’s is staggering and it has the capability to bankrupt not only the families and caregivers but the healthcare industry as well. The emotional, mental and physical impact of Alzheimer’s is deep. There are no survivors of Alzheimer’s - not the people suffering with it and not the families that love and care for them. As Maria pointed out, “Alzheimer’s is an old person’s disease but a young person’s burden”. Sad but true. We have the power to help find a cure for this disease. You can get involved in many ways including participation in an Alzheimer’s Walk and by asking your legislators to vote on the Alzheimer’s Study.

My interest in Alzheimer’s remains very strong, even though my Grandma passed away years ago. My youngest son, CJ, has Down Syndrome, which means he has a disposition to early onset Alzheimer’s. The documentary doesn’t touch on that specific aspect of the disease but I am hopeful that we will find a cure during my lifetime and the cure will help all of those suffering from this dreadful disease.

If you’d like to learn more about Alzheimer’s contact one of the following organizations.
NIA/Alzheimer’s Info, 1-800-438-4380
Alzheimer’s Association, 1-800-272-3900

A number of us Tweeted during the call, you can check out our Tweets by searching #mariashriver.

A big thanks to Maria Shriver for taking the time to speak with us. Another big thanks to Jill, founder of Silicon Valley Moms, for connecting us (literally) with Maria.

Filed Under: Family • Health

Tags: alzheimers, cj, down syndrome, grandma, HBO, Maria Shriver, New Jersey Moms Blog, Silicon Valley Moms Blog, The Alzheimer's Project