by Leah Weinberg
The Alzheimer’s Association of Central California recently held their Second Annual Your Brain Matters Alzheimer’s Women’s Initiative Luncheon. The event was to celebrate and honor exceptional dementia caregivers and raised more than $250,000. The next event will be on November 18, 2016 in Santa Barbara.
Lisa Genova, PhD, author of the best-selling novel Still Alice, was keynote speaker at the Alzheimer’s awareness event. Her experience with her grandmother’s diagnosis inspired her to write the novel, which was also made into a film that starred Julianne Moore, and for which she won the Oscar for her performance.
Dr. Genova spoke about her grandmother at the event. “My grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in her mid-80s. We were like a lot of families and there was a lot of denial. By the time we realized it wasn’t just aging, she had probably been living with Alzheimer’s for 5-10 years.” Although her original inspiration was to understand what was happening with her grandmother, she became interested in documenting the early stages of the disease and charting it through its entire progression.
Special guest Maria Shriver attended and was awarded the first ever Alzheimer’s Women’s Initiative Leadership Award. In 2004, Maria published the children’s book “What’s Happening to Grandpa” about a child dealing with her grandfather’s progressive memory loss. Shriver is an advocate of a gender-specific research fund for Alzheimer’s, saying “women’s brains are different. Alzheimer’s exists in your brain for 20 years before it’s actually diagnosed. If women are getting this in their 60s, back it up. What’s going on with women in their 40s?”
Are you dealing with a family member with Alzheimer’s or dementia? For more information visit the Alzheimer’s Association at www.alz.org. See our simple checklist “Do I Need a Care Manager?” to determine if we can help you, or call Eldercare Services at 1-866-760-1808 to speak to an on-call coordinator 24/7. Eldercare Services offers a complimentary Professional Assessment of your unique situation.