The Alzheimer's Project Documentary

I have just finished watching about 5 hours of the video series, The Alzheimer's Project.  It was from HBO, and it was produced by Maria Shriver among others.  It was produced in 2009, so the information was a bit dated.  Nevertheless, it was worth my time.

Some of us may remember when President Kennedy appointed his brother-in-law, Sargent Shriver, to found the Peace Corps.  His later struggle with AD prompted his daughter Maria to be an advocate for Alzheimer's research.  She wrote a children's book, What's Happening to Grandpa to help children understand AD.  She later produced a movie for children with the same theme.  And The Alzheimer's Project earned Maria a couple of Emmy Awards.

Did I say 5 hours?  But I still have the third DVD to watch!

The DVDs were loaned to me by a friend who participated in brain research a few years ago.  (But now she's a lawyer.)

The first DVD was a series of vignettes about some AD sufferers' and their families.  It was very moving.

The second DVD was about where we stand in the search for a cure.  Or, rather, where we stood in the search for a cure in 2009.  What was sad in this segment was the level of optimism that existed at that time regarding how close we seemed to be.  But so many of the ideas they were pursuing then have since turned out to be dead ends.

They introduced Dr. Carl W. Cotman, who is credited with discovering the power of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) to heal damaged brain cells and to prompt the formation of new brain cells.  We describe this in Beating the Dementia Monster.  He discussed the power of aerobic exercise to generate BDNF and beat back the advance of AD.  This promise is, at least, is being fulfilled today, at least to the extent that we're willing to get out there and get that exercise!