With June comes hot sunny days, beautiful rolling green fields, and lightning bugs. It is also Alzheimers and Brain Health Awareness Month. June is a wonderful month to create long-lasting memories with friends and family. Many of us go on vacation or enjoy a weekend cookout or two. How precious are the memories we build; they are more valuable than any worldly possessions that we can gain.

Unfortunately, our memories are just like anything else as they can vanish. I watched this happen to my grandmother, and it was a painful experience. My grandmother loved to cookand she could make the best fried chicken, roast, and potatoes. However, we started to notice a difference in her ability to cook around the last decade of her life. She was forgetful. The beginning signs of something going wrong were very subtle. As time went on, the symptoms became more obvious.

At the end of my grandmothers life, she suffered from end-stage dementia. She could not remember people, things, or past events. When I would visit her in the nursing home, she would gaze out as if no other person were in the room with her. It was painful for all the family to see her like that. In the end, the disease progressed to the point that she would not eat or drink. In November of 2017, my grandmother lost her battle to this disease.

According to the Alzheimers Association, beginning symptoms of Alzheimers may include forgetfulness, an inability to complete daily tasks, misplacing or losing things, and a withdrawal from social activities These signs can be very subtle at firstand will gradually become more evident over time.

There is still so much about Alzheimers that is unknown. The brain is a complex part of our body. The way it functions is miraculous and mysterious. Sadly, so are diseases that impact it. Although science has allowed us to understand more about the human brain, there is still more that needs to be understood before we can defeat horrible diseases.

Overall, the best way to promote brain-health longevity is to exercise and stay active. The CDC also recommends learning new things and staying connected to loved ones. Furthermore, regular check-ups with a medical provider can help ensure brain-health, too.

One of the most valuable things we have as human beings is the ability to remember. My grandmother, like millions of other men and women, lost her ability to remember because of a horrible disease such as dementia. My prayer is that one day diseases such as these will be defeated.

For more information about this topic, please visit http://www.www.alz.org.

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June is Alzheimer's and Brain Health Awareness Month - messenger-inquirer