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VIDEO: Watch Greg O’Brien in NOVA PBS’ ‘Can Alzheimer’s Be Stopped?’

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Watch as “investigators untangle the cause of Alzheimer’s and race to develop a cure.” Alzheimer’s disease strikes at the core of what makes us human: our capacity to think, to love and to remember. The cause of Alzheimer’s ­ and whether it can be stopped ­ is one of the greatest medical mysteries of our time. Alzheimer’s ravages the minds of over 40 million victims worldwide, stripping them of their memories and often their dignity on a poignant march that can lead to death. Join investigators as they gather clues and attempt to reconstruct the molecular chain of events that ultimately leads to dementia, and follow key researchers in the field who have helped to develop the leading theories of the…

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Greg O’Brien: Learning to Live, and Not Die, with Alzheimer’s Disease

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There’s hardly a family in America that hasn’t been touched by Alzheimer’s disease. More than 5.4 million people live with the disease and 500,000 die from it each year. Alzheimer’s is not a normal part of aging and without being able to cure or prevent it, in the next 15 years it is expected to exceed heart disease and cancer as the leading cause of death. This could bankrupt Medicare. Public awareness of Alzheimer’s—a balance between science, medicine and faith—needs to change dramatically in anticipation of the looming Alzheimer’s epidemic that is headed for the baby boomer generation. This is why November has been designated as National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month. Begun in 1983 by President Ronald Reagan, who would wage his…

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Summer solstice is the longest day for those with Alzheimer’s

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As a child, I started counting daylight minutes beginning with the winter solstice. Today, at age 64, I stand still in the sun on the longest day, but for a different reason. The longest day has new meaning for me as I battle Alzheimer’s disease. For those afflicted, and for their caregivers, each day brings new trials from sunrise to sunset; every day is the Longest Day. As one of 10 kids in an Irish Catholic family, I learned early on that you never get mad; you get even. I seek now to get even with Alzheimer’s, as teams around the world come together to honor the strength, passion and endurance of those facing the disease on this day of…

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Video: Missed It? Watch Greg O’Brien, Author of ON PLUTO: Inside the Mind of Alzheimer’s

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ABOUT ON PLUTO This is a book about living with Alzheimer’s, not dying with it. It is a book about hope, faith, and humor—a prescription far more powerful than the conventional medication available today to fight this disease. Alzheimer’s is the sixth leading cause of death in the U.S.—and the only one of these diseases on the rise. More than 5 million Americans have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or a related dementia; about 35 million people worldwide. Greg O’Brien, an award-winning investigative reporter, has been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s and is one of those faceless numbers. Acting on long-term memory and skill coupled with well-developed journalistic grit, O’Brien decided to tackle the disease and his imminent decline by writing frankly…

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