740-word article. Monthly inspirational column is written by Evelyn M. Bingham, a retired entrepreneur and former owner of the first black-owned hotel on Mackinaw Island in Michigan.
 
PREVIEW:
Some people never stop to realize the importance of memory to each of us as we live and interact with one another each day. We take the gift of memory as just something that we are entitled to, or something that is supposed to be. Each of us has or will have a lapse or loss of memory for a brief period, each day, and are very annoyed and downright frustrated when we cannot recall a face, a name, or a fact.  These occurrences are normal for most of us, and we usually remember later, but what happens when faces, facts, memories, loved ones and your whole life disappears and leaves you forever, never to be recalled except for a few days when you are lucid and then will relapse again. 
 
 Many of us know or have heard of age-related problems of the elderly such as losing their memories, foggy or dim memory, dementia, or the dreaded Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s is no longer a disorder of the elderly; early symptoms have been documented as early as 45 years of age.
 
Alzheimer’s disease was named after A. Alzheimer, a German physician who first described it. It is a progressive, irreversible disease characterized by degeneration of the brain cells and commonly leading to severe dementia. In this country there are 5.4 million people who are afflicted with Alzheimer’s. Out of the 10 deadliest diseases in the U.S., Alzheimer’s is the only one without a way to prevent, cure or even slow its progression, yet there have been great advances in understanding the disease and progress is being made each week, each month, and every day, needless to say, there is still a tremendous amount to do!