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After decades of helping wipe out polio in distant lands, some Rotary members are turning to slash at another raging demon -- Alzheimer's.

ALZHEIMER'S CAMPAIGN: Rotary Clubs Whipped Polio, Now Funding New Research

April 4, 2015       Leave a Comment
By: Dave Rogers

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We all see friends leaving us, not always through death but more often mentally through memory loss.

There is no cure for death, of course, but perhaps, just maybe, the insidious web of disease that takes people to distant shores of the mind where they no longer know who they are or who they are can be overcome.

If it is to be, it is up to me, as the saying goes -- a mantra the Rotary Club, just one of many civic groups that make America unique, adopts in its aims to make a difference in Alzheimer's, the dreaded, insidious killer. "If it is to be, it is up to us," this group says.

Not just a luncheon club with millions of members worldwide, Rotary International is a rallying force to address mankind's needs.

In the 1920s and 1930s, newspaper reporters assigned to cover one or another local luncheon club dismissed the groups as "the bun throwers." The appellation was given because at some raucous meetings the members took to throwing hard bread rolls at each other in fun, according to an old time reporter of my acquaintance.

Those high jinks soon became out of order when clubs took on more important tasks not only in the community but broadened to embrace worldwide causes.

The Rotary Club of Bay City is the first service luncheon club organized in Bay City, chartered in 1915. In a century it went from projects like taking care of the ducks in the Carroll Park pond each year to a historical triumph -- moving the pioneer fur trading era Trombley-Centre House on a raft up the Saginaw River from 24th and Water to Veterans Memorial Park in 1981.

Now local members sometimes travel to distant Third World countries to help teams of nurses and physicians give polio immunizations, install clean water devices, build schools and address health issues among youth.

After decades of helping wipe out polio in distant lands, some Rotary members are turning to slash at another raging demon -- Alzheimer's.

Rotarians from the east are behind the CAF (Cure Alzheimer's Fund, www.curealz.org) started about 10 years ago by Jeffrey L. Morby, member of the Rotary Club of Martha's Vineyard and former vice-president of Mellon Bank, Pittsburgh.

A real grassroots Rotary effort against Alzheimer's started in 1996 when members in Sumter, South Carolina, began to collect small change at meetings to support research.

"The purpose of the CART Fund (Coins for Alzheimer's Research Trust) is to collect and provide dollars for leading edge research for the cure/prevention of Alzheimer's disease (AD). It started in 1996 with Rotarians voluntarily emptying their pockets and purses of change at weekly meetings."

Since 1996, the CART Fund has given grants of more than $4 million to 22 different research centers. Small change has begun to add up.!

The CART Fund is beginning to gain momentum across the nation, as the group's website explains: "The effect of donated change can be illustrated by considering that in the 11 Rotary districts of The Carolinas and Georgia, there are approximately 35,100 Rotarians. Assuming 85 percent attendance, 48 meetings a year and an average donation of just 35 cents, we can raise over $500,000 for research annually. Using this formula, Rotarians in the USA and Canada, combined, could provide over $5.5 million annually for Alzheimer's research."

The CART movement has spread to North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Virgina and even far west to a club in Idaho.

"The longer you live, the more likely you are to get it," writes Julie Bain in an article about Alzheimer's entitled "SLOW FADE" in the current issue of The Rotarian Magazine.

The article tells how Rudolph E. Tanzi, neurology professor at Harvard Medical School and co-author of the book "Super Brain" with Deepak Chopra, is developing a promising medication aimed at stopping progression of the disease that currently affects five million in the U.S..

Tanzi was noted for his co-discovery of the gene that causes Huntington's Disease, an even more terrible neurological disorder. He has since found more than 100 genes associated with Alzheimer's.

Speaking at a CAF symposium in Boston last year, Morby noted how the long limited information on Alzheimer's "has exploded into a nearly complete understanding of the basic causes and the pathways to a cure."

CAF has donated more than $28 million for research in its decade of operation. Issuing a call to all Rotarians, Morby says "we're in it until we find a cure."

Dr. Tanzi, who was motivated after watching his own grandmother succumb to Alzheimer's, has identified genes that mutate and cause amyloid tangles in the brain -- "answering the biggest question in this field in the last 30 years," wrote Ms. Bain.

An explanation of the challenge is provided by the Alzheimer's Association Research Center, alz.org:

"Alzheimer's disease is a progressive brain disorder that damages and eventually destroys brain cells, leading to memory loss and changes in thinking and other brain functions. It usually develops slowly and gradually gets worse as brain function declines and brain cells eventually wither and die. Ultimately, Alzheimer's is fatal, and currently, there is no cure.

The organization supports neuroscience research efforts to develop effective treatments and ways to prevent the disease, commenting:

"Researchers are also working to develop better ways to care for affected people and better ways to support their families, friends and caregivers.

"The Alzheimer's Association is moving these research efforts forward by funding scientists who are searching for more answers and new treatments, collaborating with stakeholders, fostering worldwide partnerships among scientists, and raising the visibility of Alzheimer's as a global health challenge."

Alzheimer's disease is the most common type of dementia, a general term used to describe various diseases and conditions that damage brain cells. Alzheimer's disease accounts for 50 to 80 percent of dementia cases. Other types include vascular dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies and frontotemporal dementia. In some cases, a person may have more than one type and are said to have mixed dementia.

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Dave Rogers

Dave Rogers is a former editorial writer for the Bay City Times and a widely read,
respected journalist/writer in and around Bay City.
(Contact Dave Via Email at carraroe@aol.com)

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