Katie Fox Comm107 Informative Briefing Outline Introduction I never thought Alzheimer s disease would pertain to my life I never thought that I would go through the pain of seeing a loved one struggle to remember major aspects of her life or forget how to do simple daily tasks Unfortunately my grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer s disease last year Since my grandmother lives in Maryland and I live in Pennsylva nia I did not see her as often as I wanted to but I made an effort to talk to her on the phone as much as possible Alzheimer s disease can slowly but surely destroy someones life and there is no cure for this horrible disease I realized that something needs to be done about this disease and I was going to take a stand Body 1 Alzheimer s disease is a disease of one s mental state that takes over their ability to function during their middle or older age http www alzfdn org AboutAlzheimers definition html Alzheimer s disease significantly becomes more noticeable in a person overtime and there are many warning signs and symptoms to pay attention to if you suspect someone to have this disease such as memory loss poor speak ing and writing skills making poor judgements and decisions and changes in personality similar to depression or anxiety http www mayoclinic org diseases conditions alzheimers dis ease basics symptoms con 20023871 Alzheimer s is similar to other diseases because there are various degrees but it is common that it gets worse over time 2 There are three different stages to Alzheimer s mild moderate and severe http www webmd com alzheimers understanding alzheimers disease symptoms Mild Alzheimer s is common among people that have a change in their energy level loss of recent memories have mood swings and have increasing problems with language such as understand ing and expressing their emotions Mild Alzheimer s is common for people who abuse drugs are overly stressed or have depression Moderate Alzheimer s roughly lasts for ten years and during this stage memory loss becomes significantly worse Some of the symptoms for moderate Alzheimer s disease include rambling speech having trouble planning appointments such as doc tors appointments and becoming confused with time and place such as the year and what time of the day it is The third level of Alzheimer s is severe Alzheimer s With this stage people who are affected have major confusion about their life have extreme weight loss seizures and skin infections hallucinate and are unable to communicate with others http www healthline com health slideshow stages progression alzheimers The different levels of Alzheimer s is important because throughout one s life it can change dramatically and it is crucial to notice the difference when someone is getting worse from the disease 3 For my senior year graduation project we had to help our community in some way and I decided that I was going to fundraise for the Alzheimer s association and raise money to support the organization for finding a cure After having friends family and peers join my team everyone was responsible for raising money and we were grateful enough to raise two thousand dollars The Alzheimer s association holds a walk every year called the Walk Against Alzheimer s which my whole team participated in This walk is held all over the country throughout the year gathering people to come together to make a difference for a good cause http act alz org site PageServer pagename walk search Conclusion Thankfully my grandmother is still alive but sadly she is struggling everyday to fight Alzheimer s After doing a lot of research and taking note of how my grandmother has sig nificantly gotten worse within one year has changed my life dramatically Learning about a dis ease I really was not that interested in a few years ago has taken over a loved one and I am not going to stop fighting for her I think that if everyone makes a small effort to do something about fighting a disease it can make a big difference
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