Alzheimers Memory Walk '06

    The rain held out until just as we were about to start the Memory walk this past Sunday at Calf Pasture Beach in Norwalk.

Check out these troopers!

Thanks to Cliff Juleson for sending me these pictures he took.

However, the weather was great during registration which gave us time to have coffee and bagels and meet some of the walkers and teams. Here I am with Norwalk Mayor Dick Moccia and Tina Birkic from the Alzheimer's Association.

Kendra Farn of WNBC and I served as hosts for the event. However, since it started raining just as were supposed to talk about Alzheimer's, we cut it short.

However, I'd like to pass along some information from the Alzheimer's Assocation on this disease that is considered a major killer. While Heart Disease is down three-percent and cancer is down one-percent, Alzheimer's is up 5.8 % in Connecticut with deaths up over 20% since 1999.

One in 10 people over 65 has Alzheimer’s disease.  Nearly half of people over 85 have Alzheimer’s disease. People can get Alzheimer's as early as thier 30s and 40s.

Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive, degenerative disease of the brain and the most common form of dementia. Alzheimer’s results in impaired memory, thinking and behavior. Alzheimer’s disease usually begins gradually, causing a person to forget recent events and to have difficulty performing familiar tasks.

There isn't a cure, so that's what the Alzheimer's Association is raising money to find. Speaking of money, medicare costs for people with Alzheimer's are three times higher than for other elderly beneficiaries. The reason is because 95-percent of Medicare beneficiaries with dementia have other chronic conditions common in the elderly such as coronary heart disease and diabetes.

A big thanks to all the individuals and teams that raised money for Memory Walk '06.