Senators Hear From Alzheimer's Patients

May 14, 2008— -- Chuck Jackson has early-onset Alzheimer's disease. So does his older brother and three of his cousins.

Jackson, an Alzheimer's patient from Albany, Ore., said 17 of his relatives have lost their battle with Alzheimer's, most before the age of 65. In 1967, at the age of 13, he became a caregiver for his mother.

Jackson joined several other Alzheimer's patients and caregivers on Capitol Hill Wednesday to ask lawmakers to increase their commitment to researching the disease. Alzheimer's affects as many as 4.5 million Americans, according to the National Institute on Aging. It is a disease in which a protein called A-beta becomes excessive in the brain, cutting off communication between nerve cells, eventually resulting in memory loss.

Among those testifying today before the Senate Special Committee on Aging is former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. O'Connor retired from the court in 2006 to care for her husband, who has Alzheimer's.

"It's so painful for someone you care about to see them disappear, in effect, before your eyes in every way, both mentally and physically. Very depressing," O'Connor told ABC News' Jan Crawford Greenburg in an exclusive interview before the hearing.

Urging the need for more research and funding for the disease, O'Connor spoke to lawmakers about the reluctance and fear many families dealing with Alzheimer's face. She said her own sons do not want to be tested for fear of insurance issues and the dire prognosis that currently faces those afflicted with the disease.

Medications currently on the market do not stop the progression of Alzheimer's but rather treat or delay its symptoms. Researchers said some drugs currently under study, which work by curbing the progression of A-beta in the brain, hold promise for slowing the disease's acceleration.

Still, Rudolph E. Tanzi, a neurology professor at Harvard Medical School and a geneticist at Massachusetts General Hospital, said it could take a while before everything is known about these drugs.