If I could cure any disease

Imagine a world where the sentence “I don’t remember…” is not joined with a vacant face; a stumble of words is met with laughter, not a sense of helplessness; where mourning starts with a corpse, not someone drawing breath.

Alzheimer’s is a progressive disease (commonly found in adults over the age of 65) that causes the degeneration of brain cells and is characterised by the loss of thinking, memory, reasoning, and functionality. There are Four main stages of this disease: the preclinical stage — where there is mild memory loss, the early stage — where multiple symptoms may start to appear, such as disorientation and loss of concentration, the moderate stage — where there is increased memory loss and a possible lack of impulse control and finally, the late stage — where patients can no longer recognise their family and may even become bedridden.

In 2021, the World Health Organisation estimated that Alzheimer’s affects 57 million people, and by 2050, this figure is set to triple. For decades, this disease has been largely feared, and with current treatments primarily focused on slowing the progression of the disease rather than the reversal, while our average life expectancy is gradually increasing, it is very unlikely that this fear will decline anytime soon.

Alzheimer’s is not only a disease which affects those diagnosed but also loved ones around them. Now, imagine just one more time, It’s a Tuesday, you always visit your uncle Matt on a Tuesday he is sitting by the television with a cup of tea watching the football a tradition you’ve have shared together since you were three, you smile watching him and take a deep breath before saying a cheery “Hey, Uncle M!” He turns towards you but his eyes seem to drift elsewhere an expression you have grown far to use to, he pauses briefly before replying a hesitant “Who are you?”.

While this disease may not seem to be the deadliest, it could be considered the most destructive as it slowly strips away someone’s identity. How can you explain that someone is still physically here, but parts of them just fade away? How do you explain to loved ones that you remember someone who was rather than who is now?

If there were a cure, connections would return, families that had once lain in wait for a loss would now be met with reunion, families could begin to laugh at old stories and jokes again. Healthcare systems would begin to shift, and long-term care facilities would see a decline in admissions, while treatment would focus on early detection and prevention. Stories of hope and renewal flood news outlets as decades’ worth of fears slowly drown out.

A cure for Alzheimer’s is not only a cure for an individual, but would save millions of people who may never be diagnosed themselves with this condition. It is for these reasons that I would cure Alzheimer’s, because no one deserves to disappear while they are still alive.