I work in comedy, so when my mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, naturally I thought to help by making her laugh. Then I set out to help not only people facing the disease, but the people who care for them with comedians’ tools to get some relief.
When Massachusetts Senator Markey’s mother was fighting the disease, he did what he knew best to do, rally support in Washington by creating legislature to help all families facing this brutal disease. Since his mother’s diagnosis in 1985, Markey has passionately pursued ensuring that there is government funding, resources and the “coordination necessary to find a cure for this disease.” He and the co-chairs of the Congressional Task Force on Alzheimer’s received some exciting news Wednesday morning! President Biden signed the bill to extend their National Alzheimer’s Act to 2035.
Originally drafted by Markey, the bill was unanimously approved by the house and was awaiting Biden’s signature. The Senate passed the legislation in July.
Along these lines, another extension was granted Wednesday morning for the Alzheimer’s Accountability and Investment Act. Written by Markey with a bi-partisan group this also got re-upped to 2035. This one requires the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to submit an annual budget to Congress estimating the funding necessary to fully implement the National Alzheimer’s Project Association (NAPA)’s research goals. Until now, Cancer and AIDS were the only other biomedical fields that have been supported in this way.
Over the years I have talked about the difference between my father’s death to Cancer 30 years ago and the experience I had with my mother. Back then people would still whisper “Cancer” when they talked about it, if they talked about it at all. Initially, I had the same let’s-keep-it-under-wraps response to an Alzheimer’s diagnosis. Like Cancer, I do feel the tide shifting on this. We don’t have to whisper about cognitive decline any more, which allows for more focus on prevention and more support for the entire family.
