My wife for 35 years was diagnosed with Alzheimer's six years ago. She is still in her 60s and living with me at home. 

Please forget for just a minute the statistics and the budget crunch and the promises of no new taxes. I ask you please to close your eyes and escape from the pressures of Congress and politics and just imagine that your spouse – educated and active, with plans and dreams for retirement – is suddenly told her brain is slowly deteriorating and will not be able to drive. Then in short order, she will be unable to be left alone, to shop for food or clothes, to dress herself, to travel, to call a friend, to focus on reading a book or watching television, and even eventually to enjoy holding her infant grandchild. 

One by one, her daily household and personal care tasks become impossible to complete – first alone and then not at all. You try to attain normalcy each day against mounting odds – doing everything possible with medications and cognitive exercises to slow down the oncoming train. You want her to talk and express herself, but her verbal skills slowly fail. Everyone says she "looks so well." But you know she isn't. 

Now open your eyes. You are back in Washington, D.C., and have the moral obligation and power to possibly reverse the effects of this disease or to prevent it altogether. I don't want you or me or anyone to live through these moments as Martha and I have. It is not an "old people's disease." It is not a result of smoking or bad nutrition or questionable behavior. If I were there, I would show you my wife's photo and you would see in her eyes the resignation and fear, but also the hope that you can help realize.