New 1 Johnny New Professor Baird ENG 1010 Section 089 04/18/2014 Alzheimers disease Vs.

. Cancer Marilyn White an accomplished Olympic athlete and cancer survivor now deals with another health issue, Alzheimers disease and she is one of many who suffers from this brain killing disease with no cure. Marylin White was ready as soon as she turned fifty to begin getting herself checked regularly for any cancer, at age sixty-one Mrs. White was diagnosed with breast cancer but they caught the cancer very early and Mrs. White is now a five-year survivor. The same cannot be said with her Alzheimers disease, not fearing this disease because of low awareness she was not on the lookout for early signs of Alzheimers so she went undiagnosed for a fairly long time. Marylin White acknowledges that if she had caught her disease earlier she feels she could have been fighting it better. The amount of funding that goes into cancer vs. Alzheimers disease is much greater but why is this? Well there are a couple of reasons, For one cancer is a more deadly disease than Alzheimers so people put more funding towards it. Secondly how people deal with each disease differs. Third is the reason described in Alice Parks Alzheimers Unlocked which describes the funding that goes into Alzheimers the progress it has made and some of the shortcomings the disease has. Also, Alzheimers is much harder to recognize than cancer is, and is debated whether or not the disease can even be cured. Lastly, cancer affects a different, wide amount of the population, young and old whereas Alzheimers is much more prevalent in the older community. These are the reasons that I will break down and describe.

New 2 Cancer is a much deadlier disease than Alzheimers in fact it is estimated that eight million people worldwide each year die from cancer, and the Alzheimers rates our much lower. But how does each disease effect the loved one and the family of the loved one? Well we will begin with Cancer. On the cancer.org website there is a section where people can write their own experiences with cancer, all of them very heart wrenching. Their seemed to be a pattern though of how these people would describe coping with their illness. Most people begin with how they cope in everyday life, for example gathering as much information about the disease as you can like take notes when you are with your doctor. Another common coping method people brought up was walking and running every day. Then the articles goes into the anxiety and fear and depression that comes with having a loved one or yourself diagnosed with cancer, and facing the real possibility of death in that person. Then it goes into long term coping with cancer, and maybe even coping with death of that individual. Finally people talk about attitudes that they have towards cancer and what attitudes worked well. People talked about the pressure that might be there to keep a good attitude about the disease the whole time which all people say is unrealistic. People also talk about ignoring the problem and not talking about, both of these methods people said were not good and it was better to confront feelings about the disease when they happen and talk about it freely. This was my families approach to having a Grandma diagnosed with cancer and likely to die, we all could talk to her about her disease whenever we liked and these were her wishes. This made the disease easier to cope with, we all knew what was going on, and although it may have been hard at the moment to hear the latest news, looking back I would much rather have that than to ignore it. This is something that people who face Alzheimers disease do not usually get the benefit of knowing, because so little is known about the disease.

New 3 How people deal with Alzheimers disease is very different, although some of the same feelings are provoked for the most part, but interaction with the patient is much different. The University of Northwestern studied the familys response to familys who have a loved one who suffers from Alzheimers disease. The first thing that families usually face when being confronted with a loved one having Alzheimers is Depression and anxiety followed by guilt and uncertainty. Something that follows often when one is diagnosed with Alzheimers is role changes, for example when a husband is diagnosed with Alzheimers he can no longer do a lot of the things he was able to do. The article by Northwestern University talks about Social Situations and how things start to become awkward for lack of a better term when your loved one does not remember people and how you will have to explain frequently about how your loved one is diagnosed with Alzheimers disease. Alzheimers is a very hard disease to face because of the interaction with the one who is diagnosed. From personal experience I have fond memories of my Grandma who was diagnosed with cancer and later died, but that is different with my uncle the only uncle that I remember is one that I have to introduce myself to every time. It breaks my heart and makes me wish so badly that somehow there was a cure for a disease that is slowly eating away at my uncles brain. The interactions that I had with my Grandma before she died were very hard but it was easier to cope with her death because she was still my grandma till the day she died, this is unlike my uncle who I still love with all my heart but it is hard because he is not my uncle anymore. Overall the disease that has been harder to face for my family and I is Alzheimers disease. Alzheimers being one of the hardest diseases to face you would think would receive more funding. An article by Alice Parks called Alzheimers Unlocked goes into some of the advancements that the disease has made and why it is not receiving as much funding as cancer.

New 4 Alice parks talks about something that some researchers believe to be a major part in the Alzheimers disease which is the amyloid protein plaque. This plaque builds up in areas of the brain that make neuron travel more difficult. This plaque was first believed to be the primary contributor to Alzheimers disease but with further research into the amyloid protein it was found that this was only a contributor to the disease and not the only one. What makes research into the disease difficult is most of the studies done have to take place after a diagnosed patient dies. This is one of the major discoveries that took place in the research that has been done into Alzheimers disease, but still little has been down and it is wondered on whether or not the disease even has a cure. There are multiple reasons why this disease is not more greatly funded, and one is the debate of whether or not this disease can even be cured. Early recognition of the disease is hard because part of getting old is a slowed down memory but finding the difference between this and early stages of Alzheimers disease is hard, without this early recognition it is hard to stop the growth of the amyloid protein. The scope for the disease and we look at Alzheimers needs to be broadened, although some strides have been made into curing the disease more downfalls have taken place, after multiple years of research scientists have only been able to find contributors and stopping any number of these contributors although helping the disease can not cure it. In an alarming pole taken by Alice Parks 81% of poled members believed major strides were being made in finding a cure for heart disease, and 74% said the same about cancer, but only 48% of people poled could say strides were being made to find a cure for Alzheimers disease. I believe that these numbers are directly related to the amount of funding that goes into each of the diseases.

New 5 A reason that Alzheimers does not get as much funding as cancer is the population that is affected by each disease. While Alzheimers effects the older population, Cancer effects most all ages, and a higher population of people, making a cure for cancer more desirable, but should this be the case. As we have seen both diseases affect the family of the loved one diagnosed, and the person with each disease greatly, but from my families experience Alzheimers has been the harder disease to face. I do believe Cancer should receive more funding than Alzheimers the number affected by cancer is much higher but the gap needs to be shortened. Awareness for Alzheimers has to be raised, and with more awareness we can begin to start recognizing the disease at an earlier time helping researchers pin point causes of the disease. There are plenty of way to raise awareness for the disease. Everyone knows the sign of breast cancer and the color pink. Every month the National football league dedicates a month to the disease where players wear the color pink. Every year once a year the White house glows pink in order to help raise awareness for breast cancer. Are society is very aware of the disease and this is why Marylin White and others like her were able to catch the disease early and stop it. Why cant we raise awareness for Alzheimers disease? Why cant awareness be like that for a disease that takes away loved one from your life and leaves you with little memory of the how the person actually was. I believe that cancer should still receive more funding than Alzheimers disease because it does effect more people, but the gap of funding received between these two diseases needs to be shortened. The awareness for Alzheimers needs to be raised so we can better find a cure for the disease. I have read and been a part of accounts of people who have both diseases Alzheimers and cancer, each disease has the ability to rip a family apart in cancer the fear of death looms over the patient and over the patients family. In Alzheimers its the constant tearing

New 6 up of a person who you once knew greatly personality, and leaving you with not much to remember them by, both are equally horrible fates in my eyes but in cancer I see more strides being made towards a cure and more awareness for the disease to help people cope with it and possibly kill the disease early. With Alzheimers though you see a disease that does not have much awareness and no great strides for cures are being made and this needs to change. Both diseases are horrible for everyone involved but more strides are being made in cancer Than in Alzheimers and this needs to change. In Conclusion although cancer is a more deadly disease, I believe that the gap between the funding of cancer and Alzheimers needs to become smaller. How people deal with each disease is obviously different but with my experience and experiences that I read about more thought needs to go into how hard it is to a family member with Alzheimers and just because the disease is not necessarily deadly it is hard to face and a cure needs to be looked for. This cure has been debated on whether or not it could even be found, but that does not mean to stop looking, this would save millions of peoples pain and suffering if we could find a cure for this disease. The age groups that our affected by each disease very widely separated and this is one of the reasons for a lack of funding but it should not be, everyone in my eyes has the right to remember a grandparent or parent in his old age and not be forced to have to introduce yourself to this person regularly. Overall, the gap between the funding of Alzheimers and cancer needs to begin to level out.

New 7 Works Cited "Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease Center." The Family's Response: Feinberg School of Medicine: Northwestern University. N.p., 26 Mar. 2012. Web. 30 Mar. 2014. "Emotional Side Effects." Of Cancer and Treatment. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2014. Goldschmidt, Debra, dir. Alzheimer's far more likely than breast cancer in women over 60. CNN, 2014. Film. 27 Mar 2014. Park, Alice. "Alzheimer's Unlocked." Time International (South Pacific Edition) 176.17 (2010): 30-35. Business Source Premier. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.