When I lost my grandmother to Alzheimer’s seven years ago, I never would have imagined that I would now be working with the elderly as an emergency medical technician and using my new degree in biology and neuroscience to start my career in research.
I also never would have imagined that working in research would become so challenging. Proposed cuts to research funding, especially for dementia research, will be devastating to the work of dedicated Pittsburgh scientists searching for an Alzheimer’s cure.
In the past five years, these scientists have been making strides. My heart breaks for the patients I see, whose lives have been forever changed by this disease and who are losing hope for a cure which should have been on its way.
Our representatives and congresspeople have the power to push back. Congresswoman Summer Lee, I ask you to fight for our cause. The Alzheimer’s Association is asking for a $113.485 million increase in research funding at the National Institutes of Health, $35 million for the Building Our Largest Dementia (BOLD) Infrastructure for Alzheimer’s Act and co-sponsorship for the Accelerating Access to Dementia & Alzheimer’s Provider Training (AADAPT) Act, changes which have the power to revitalize the search for a cure. Thank you for fighting for individuals living with Alzheimer’s in Pennsylvania.
Anna Cappella
Swisshelm Park