Breanna Cowan

Minot

More than 13,000 people in North Dakota suffer from Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, and more than 19,000 friends and family are caring for them.

Sadly, I know firsthand how Alzheimer’s greatly affected our family when my grandma, Kelly Strauch, was diagnosed.

My grandma was the kindest person I have ever met in my life. She would often watch me when I was younger while my parents worked. I would pick rhubarb in her garden and sing songs while she played the piano. When she was first diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, I was too young to understand the disease; however, I could see the pain in my own mother’s eyes while she watched her mom deteriorate. The day eventually came when my grandma, who I was around regularly, did not know who I was. She eventually succumbed to the disease and to this day, my heart still breaks thinking of her last years on earth and the heartbreak my family carried with the “long goodbye.”

But there is something Congress can do right now.

Much progress has been made in the fight against Alzheimer’s over the last decade thanks in large part to Congress passing the National Alzheimer’s Project Act (NAPA), the Alzheimer’s Accountability Act, and the Building Our Largest Dementia (BOLD) Infrastructure for Alzheimer’s Act. But with these critical laws set to expire soon, updated legislation is urgently needed by people living with Alzheimer’s and their caregivers.

As a constituent, I urge my congressperson, Rep Armstrong, to vote to renew these laws, and renew our nation’s commitment to the fight against Alzheimer’s and other dementia.