WASHINGTON -- Maureen Reagan, the daughter of former President Ronald Reagan, says more money is needed to help combat Alzheimer's disease, which has ravaged her father and will strike even more Americans as the population ages.
"He's doing very well, but the disease is just awful," Maureen Reagan told The Associated Press on Monday. "It just gets worse every day."Reagan is a board member of the Alzheimer's Association, which Tuesday released an analysis of census data that finds the number of Americans with Alzheimer's will more than triple in the next 50 years.
"Alzheimer's disease doesn't make special arrangements for presidents or first ladies or anyone else for that matter," she told a Senate subcommittee Tuesday. "When it takes hold, it follows its own course of destruction, frequently ravaging not only its direct victim but also the caregivers and loved ones along with it."
While she did not go into detail concerning her father's condition, in January, she said the former president cannot speak coherently and no longer can join her in working simple jigsaw puzzles because of failing motor skills.
"A lot of people ask me (how he is) because I think they hope that somehow we've been spared," she said Monday, "But nobody's spared -- not in this disease."
According to the association's analysis, by 2025, California will lead the nation with more than 800,000 people with the fatal brain disorder, followed by Florida with about 700,000. Texas, New York and Pennsylvania round out the top five.
"An estimated 14 million baby boomers are living with a sentence of Alzheimer's disease today," said Steven DeKosky, chairman of the association's medical advisory council.
In her testimony to the Senate Appropriations labor, health and human services and education subcommittee, Reagan asked Congress to increase Alzheimer's research funding by $100 million and support caregiver programs.
"For my father and Nancy and all the individuals and caregivers across America who are praying for help, I plead with you to redouble your efforts this year," she said. "We must be the last generation of American families to live without hope -- and with your help we will be."