Skip to main content

World Alzheimer's Day.



Every year on the 21st of September, organisations from around the world celebrate World Alzheimer's Day, although it isn´t your typical happy celebration but an attempt to raise awareness across the globe of this common form of dementia. 

Alzheimer´s is a mental impairment disorder, it affects many abilities that are fundamental in our day to day lives, we mostly associated it to memory loss. It is a progressive disease and those who are diagnosed live, on average, for around 8 years after the first symptoms ocurr.

I myself have met many people suffering from different stages of Alzheimer's, from early stages where some forget where they live or get a little confused as to how they got to the place they are at to those who have lost all abilities to have a normal life and need 24 assistance by personal carers to help feed them and keep them clean. It is a frustrating thing to watch, every day I see it in a lady we know, how she forgets that she is coming out for a coffee with me, that she doesn't remember her birthday party the other day, she often tells me she wonders if they do brain transplants these days...however, it is not a humorous condition, it is severe and challenging.

I remember the first person I met with Alzheimer's, his name was Barry, I met him when the disease was just starting to take charge of his mind, I think I was around 15, (five years ago) or at least that is when I remember talking to him. he was a lovely man and had a lovely manner, I remember taking him to a doctors appointment with my mother, who at the time was his carer and friend, I realised I had to repeat myself quite often and I wasn't sure why until my mother explained it to me, unfortunately a couple of years later Alzheimer's took over and it was his time to go. 


Alzheimer's is often known as the family disease as it doesn't just affect the sufferer but the family as well, it can be frustrating if you aren't quite used to dealing with people with this disorder, and for many it is hard to accept but there are many support groups you can turn to,  you are not alone, it happens to someone every 68 seconds and there is no known cure as of yet. 

So today, 21st of September, people all over the world will raise awareness to this horrible disease and hopefully one day find a cure.

Go purple for the people with Alzheimer's!

Hannah. 







Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Who's the strange one?

I'm a very curious person, the sort of person who, if interested in something, will research every last details of this. Next week is the deadline for 'erasmus' applications to study a term (or more) abroad and I have found myself surrounded by people asking me all about it. I seem to be the only person with a basic knowledge on the subject in my circle of friends. As me and some friends have been preparing a presentation for one of my university subjects, we have been talking about 'known' bloggers here in Spain, I am supposed to give examples in my presentation and my friends have given me loads of names of people with 'funny' blogs or 'funny you-tubers', when I told them I had no idea who any of these people are they were shocked. They may know everything about insignificant matters such as funny videos but at the end of the day none of them have a clue about what they are actually interested in, for example, studying abroad. Some say I take...
1 comment
Read more

Are university degrees worth it?

It's exam time and I have decided to write a little piece on a university degree from a current student's point of view. A survey taken place in the UK in 2015 says half of all students agree their university degree was not worth the thirty something thousand pound debt it left them with. However, records show that over ten thousand more students applied to university last year.  A similar study was done in Spain, in 2015 there was a record of 1.361.340 students inscribed in university, public and private. Again, the number of college applications has increased while over half or the recent graduates regret their decisions on course or university.  Sixty percent of graduates in Peru said they regret getting their university degree. Many of the surveyed pupils say they regret their past decisions due to either they didn't get enough orientation or the course wasn't structured properly. Students today are demanding more than what they expected when un...
1 comment
Read more

Think about your brain.

Have you ever noticed you are constantly thinking? Have you ever realised your brain, whilst awake, does not shut off? Probably only half of you have thought about this, probably the other half is now trying to think about it.  The reason our brains are constantly having thoughts is mainly due to our ancestors, we don't live in the world they lived in, they had to be prepared for anything. They didn't see the grass as just a bit of green flooring, they saw it as a possible hiding space for a predator or possible danger. They had to be alert, constantly.  Another explanation is that we are social animals, we have to be aware of our surroundings and the people we interact with, this is why our brain tends to create 'what if' scenarios, it has to be prepared for whatever case necessary.  You probably didn't even think about thinking but our minds are strange little machines, restless and constant. But of course, we can not think about everything,...
Post a Comment
Read more