Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and members. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak with you today about Alzheimer's disease. It's an issue that's very important to me and to hundreds of thousands of families across Canada.
But first, Mr. Chair, I would like to thank you and your committee for recommending in your report last year the creation and implementation of a national dementia strategy. I appreciate your support.
My name is Jim Mann, and I live in Surrey, British Columbia, with my wife, Alice. I'm here today to speak with you about what it's like to live with one of the most feared and least understood illnesses in the world, Alzheimer's disease.
It's a disease I know intimately. I am one of the 747,000 Canadians currently living with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia. Our numbers are forecast to nearly double to 1.4 million by 2031.
I was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease nearly eight years ago, at the age of 58. I already had a very good idea about what lay ahead of me, because my late mother had been living with Alzheimer's for a few years at the time I was diagnosed. I watched it slowly erode her health and eventually take her life, after about 10 years.
Through my mother, I also got a first-hand look at the stigma that surrounds Alzheimer's, in the actions of her peers in her independent apartment complex as well as from some in the health care field. Since my diagnosis, I too have seen and felt the same stigma. I have experienced the isolation that goes along with it.
But what is most disturbing is the ignorance around this disease, the stereotyping, the assumptions, like the time at a hospital emergency room when I insisted my wife accompany me to the examining room because I had Alzheimer's disease. A senior nurse in the ER told me I didn't need Alice with me because I looked fine. That's part of the problem, isn't it? How is someone with Alzheimer's disease supposed to look? You can't see the degeneration of someone's brain from the outside.
Despite her education and experience, the nurse had displayed a familiar stereotype about Alzheimer's, the one that assumes that as soon as a person is diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, they immediately become incapable and incompetent. This is a disease that generally progresses very slowly, so slowly, in fact, that it often goes undetected for as much as 25 years before being diagnosed.
Nearly eight years into living with Alzheimer's, I've come to realize that I have good days and bad days. I suppose the same could be said for all of us in this room, except when I have a good day, it means I get to exercise my independence. And when I have a bad day, when my mind is too muddled to do much on my own, it means I need support.
For a person who loved business and the accompanying stimulation, and who thrived in that environment, I am now very limited in my daily activities, to one real task a day. Is that frustrating? You bet it is! But I try to make sure the one task I focus on each day is worthwhile and important, like speaking to you today.
I find purpose in educating people about Alzheimer's and spreading awareness that even though there is no cure yet for this disease, there can still be life after diagnosis, especially if the diagnosis comes early enough. That's what gets me through each day and gives me hope.
I hold on to hope that we as a country can do more to improve the quality of life for the 747,000 Canadians like me living with dementia as well as for our families. I hope that greater awareness will knock down the barriers of stigma about Alzheimer's disease and other dementias so that individuals can get a diagnosis and access to treatment and support far earlier. I hope that we can accelerate research in all areas of dementia research to find better treatments and ultimately a cure. I hope that anyone with Alzheimer's disease or dementia can access the same level of health care and services no matter where they live in Canada.
I hope that the Government of Canada will look favourably on the Alzheimer Society of Canada's proposal to make all of these ideas possible, through the creation of a national dementia plan to create the Canadian Alzheimer's disease and dementia partnership. The partnership would bring together thought leaders, planners, and advocates across the government, health, research, academia, and industry sectors, as well as families impacted by dementia, to facilitate and develop a national dementia plan.
Finally, I hope I have been able to help you understand a little more about living with Alzheimer's disease.
Thank you.