Podcast: Memories Are Everything: Why Alzheimer’s Research Needs Us Now
After recording a powerful podcast with Lainie Holcomb and Dr. Tammy Awtry of the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund, I was reminded that while meaningful progress has been made in understanding, detecting, and slowing Alzheimer’s, we are still far from a cure.
This mission is deeply personal—sparked by my mother’s diagnosis in 2006—and has driven nearly two decades of climbing and fundraising to support research where every dollar goes directly to finding solutions.
Today, breakthroughs like early detection, new treatments, and innovative research models offer real hope, but continued funding is critical; that’s why I’m asking for your help now, and I’ll match the first 50 donations to amplify our collective impact in the fight to end this disease. #alzheimer’s #Curealz
Back to Nepal for Alzheimer’s
My passion is climbing and my life’s purpose is as an Alzheimer’s Advocate. In that spirit, I’m excited to share this announcement with my friends, supporters, and followers that I’m returning to Nepal in October 2018 for the 12th time. I will be climbing again and raising money for the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund, a non-profit organization dedicated to funding research with the highest probability of preventing, slowing or reversing Alzheimer’s disease through venture-based philanthropy. I’ve worked with them since 2008. This will be a personal milestone for me as well. On February 10, 2017, while training for the 8000-meter peak Dhaulagiri, I was on a simple 11,000-foot peak here in Colorado when a wind gust cartwheeled me into a scree field breaking my right tibia and fibula in three places. A full year went by before I started to feel like myself. However, I was nowhere near where I was or where I wanted to be. Over the past 18 months, I have had some serious questions to answer about my physical future and it required digging deep into who I thought I was. The October 2018 Climb Plan I will join with Kami Sherpa to climb the relatively simple peak Island Peak aka Imja Tse at 20,305-feet/6,189-meters. It is located just over the ridge from Everest and Lhotse and you reach it by trekking through the Khumbu. As you may remember Kami and I have summited Everest (2011) and K2 (2014) and had two attempts on Lhotse (2015/2016) that were stopped by the earthquake and me getting sick. As usual, I will be live blogging throughout the trek and climb. Cure Alzheimer’s Fund – 100% for Research and $ for$ Donation Match!!! Also, I’m very excited to announce that through the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund Jim and Carol Beers will match every donation from my followers during this expedition up to $10,000, and perhaps even more. I’ve worked with the CAF since 2008 finding their research model both effective and efficient. All of their overhead is underwritten by their founders so that 100% of all donations go directly to fund research projects. Since it’s founding, the CAF has funded more than $74,000,000 to 337 research project. Their funded initiatives have been responsible for several key breakthroughs—including a potential treatment selected by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for its elite “Blueprint” drug discovery program, and the ground-breaking “Alzheimer’s in a Dish” study, which promises to greatly accelerate drug testing and was reported by the New York Times as a “giant step forward”. Charity Navigator scored the CAF with 100 percent regarding its overall financial health. Form or Join a Team! You can make a donation at our Crowd Rise fundraising site and also form a team to see who can help us reach the goal of $20,000 (I would love to see $25k!) A Long Journey Anytime there is a major trauma in your life, including watching a loved one go through a horrible disease, it requires time and support to cope and recover but most importantly it requires maintaining a positive attitude. For me, with my injury, this meant being patient, open and vulnerable. I surrounded myself with positive people from whom I could learn, depend upon for support and open myself up with admissions of my fears. I found professionals that could help me with the physical recovery. In addition to my orthopedic Doc, Riley Hale, who put my leg back together, my physical therapist, Nina Patterson took theory into reality with a deep understanding of sports injuries and how the body responds. Simply put, I wouldn’t even be thinking about climbing again without these two professionals. It also required that I be honest with myself. This is very complex. While I have framed my incident as something that happened and I could choose how I responded, I was also honest that it was not something in my “plan.” I strove to not position myself as a victim or a martyr AND at times I simply gave into the feelings of despair. I gave myself permission to go into that pity party, let my emotions flow freely AND to pull out after I had had enough. For my 62nd birthday, I was planning a climb of Longs Peak, my favorite Colorado 14,000-foot peak. As I was falling asleep a few nights before the climb, I suddenly woke up saying out loud “I don’t want to be in the rocks. I don’t want to be in the rocks.” Diane, my wife lying by my side, gently talked me through the experience and soon I fell asleep in her loving arms. The 2018 climb on Longs was another step in progress. Surrounded by dear friends, we were stopped by rain and snow – in late July. But it was a “non-summit” and not a failure as we all learned and grew through the experience. Not to give up, I summited Longs today 18 September 2018 for the 43rd time. The summer of 2018, I have been focused on regaining my fitness through losing the weight I gained through almost a year of inactivity and doing active triggering of the deep memories in my essence of the sport I love. I set a goal of climbing back to back 14ers in July – something I have wanted to do for years. Over a five day period, I summited 4 of 5 14ers coving over 50 miles and 21,000 feet in vertical gain. It felt good. In August, on the 9th anniversary of the death of Ida Arnette from Alzheimer’s Disease I hiked to the summit of Mt. Ida in Rocky Mountain National Park. The 12,840-foot peak was not difficult but a year earlier it took me 10 hours. This year I cut that time in half. Yes, I felt the progress and now could measure it. However, the real victory was connecting with my mom, Ida, who died in 2009 from Alzheimer’s Disease. As I said, in 2017 her memory pulled me to the summit of Mt. Ida as
House Appropriations Committee Proposes Significant Increase in Alzheimer’s Research Funding
Alzheimer’s research budget would increases by $300 Million if today’s proposed bill is approved. Please contact your Congressional representatives and ask them to support this increase which would be the largest in history for Alzheimer’s. Use this link to find your Representative This summary is from the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund: Cure Alzheimer’s Fund is extremely happy with the House Appropriations Subcommittee bill for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that was released today. The bill, medicine which still has to be approved by the Committee and full House, includes a $1.1 billion increase for NIH, a more than 25% increase for the National Institute on Aging (which funds more than 70% of the Alzheimer’s disease research at NIH), and calls for an additional $300 million of that increase to be used for Alzheimer’s disease research. The call for an additional $300 million would be a significant increase in funding for Alzheimer’s disease research and show a continuing commitment, even within continuing tight budgets, to find additional resources for Alzheimer’s disease research. The additional funding is a big step in the right direction of getting to the $2 billion a year in research funding experts have said is necessary to meet the 2025 goal of stopping Alzheimer’s disease. We will continue to work with Congress and the Administration to reach that $2 billion goal as fast as possible. The work of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on this bill has made that goal a lot closer and we applaud them for their efforts and their demonstrated commitment to Alzheimer’s disease research funding. Memories are Everything Alan
Vote to Cure Alzheimer’s
As you know, I only cover Everest each year to raise awareness and research money to cure Alzheimer’s. Today, I am asking you to vote to help. I am not asking for money, just your vote. It is easy and if you appreciate what I am doing on my site you will help. Alzheimer’s took my mother last August and two of my aunts. In addition, over 5 million people in the US and 25 million around the world have Alzheimer’s disease. It can hit anybody at any age. It is not genetic or an old person’s disease that comes with aging. There is no cure and is always fatal. But there is hope with research. Pepsi is running a contest to award $250,000 to the cause that receives the most votes. The Cure Alzheimer’s Fund is in the competition. This is the link to vote: http://www.refresheverything.com/curealzheimers You can vote multiple times and sign in through your Facebook page. It is easy, fast and simple. The money will fund research and nothing else. The Cure Alzheimer’s Fund is the only Alzheimer’s nonprofit devoted purely to research and where 100% of your donation go to research and none to overhead. This is unique since many other nonprofits can spend as much as 30% of your donation on their overhead. The Cure Alzheimer’s Fund is supported by three families that covers all the overhead. They fund research looking at the root cause of Alzheimer’s and that will lead to a cure one day. Please read more about them at their site Normally, you are asked for your money. This is only a few moments of your time that will perhaps save your memory and your life one day. Please vote. Thank you, Alan
If I Could Sing or Dance …
Many of you know of Memories are Everything: The 7 Summits where I want to raise $1M for Alzheimer’s’ research through awareness and fund raising events associated with climbing the 7 Summits; the highest mountain on each of the 7 continents. I announced the plan almost year ago so it is time for a proper update. First it is important to understand that this is about finding a cure for Alzheimer’s, not mountain climbing. You see, if I could sing or dance…
Alzheimer's Research in Need
Over the past few years, I can summarize the challenge about Alzheimer’s, medical research and fund raising in one of my favorite phrases: Is it hard or Impossible?. And the answer is really, really hard. Not impossible, just hard. And your help is needed. I know we are consistently asked to give to a multitude of worthy causes. However, since you visit this site, I hope that you will feel that a donation to Alzheimer’s is a worthy way of saying thanks. The Cure Alzheimer’s Fund is my choice for research because 100% of all donations only go to research and none to overheard or other expenses. This from their President, Tim Armour: Alzheimer’s isn’t just a terrible disease that affects millions of Americans. It should be a vital part of the health care debate in Washington. Because, if we don’t cure Alzheimer’s, the ment and care for this disease alone could bankrupt the entire health care system. Most people don’t realize this, but the cost of Alzheimer’s alone will be $2 trillion by 2050 – more than wiping out our Medicare and Medicaid programs. Unfortunately, our politicians in Washington have forgotten this important fact. We must cure Alzheimer’s now. And, that’s exactly why the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund was founded. Please help fund Cure Alzheimer’s now — contribute to our holiday fundraising drive $30,000 in 30 days to be a part of a cure: http://www.curealzfund.org/donate/30-000-in-30-days-to-cure-alzheimers-2 What we do right now is critical — not only because we must cure this devastating disease so no one has to watch a loved one suffer again, but, because the health of our entire health care system depends on it. Thank you for your support to find a cure for Alzheimer’s. Climb On! Alan