(NC)-It takes awareness, dedication, education – and money – to finally cure an insidious disease, say specialists in this field. It’s a long-haul, but with Alzheimer’s disease, a Canadian company is stepping up to the plate.

Last year, popular beverage brand, Mother Parkers, raised $1 million for the Alhzeimer Society to fund new research projects focusing on the causes, treatment and prevention of dementia. In addition to this fundraising initiative, both organizations are looking to rally even more Canadian support, starting with these facts:

• Dementia is a term that describes a general category of brain disorders. Symptoms include loss of memory, impaired judgment and changes in behavior and personality.

• There is currently no cure or effective treatment to stop or reverse the disease and it eventually becomes terminal.

• Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia accounting for over two thirds of all dementia cases in Canada today.

• More than 500,000 Canadians are now living with some form of dementia; by 2038, this number will reach 1.1 million.

• Early diagnosis is crucial to getting the right support to live well with dementia, yet one in four Canadians delay seeing their doctor up to a year or more after noticing the first signs.

• Canadians can take protective steps against dementia by learning the warning signs and living a lifestyle that promotes heart-healthy eating, regular exercise and staying mentally and socially active.

• Dementia currently costs Canadian taxpayers $15 billion per year; by 2038, this number will balloon to $153 billion per year.

The family behind Mother Parkers is all too familiar with Alzheimer’s disease. The co-chief executive officers, Paul Higgins Jr. and his brother Michael Higgins, remember the final years of their father.

“In our family, the disease was known as the ‘the long goodbye’ as we watched our father, Paul Higgins, gradually lose all his motor abilities,” says Michael.

“It was particularly difficult to see our mother have to deal with this ‘living loss’,” Paul continued. “At times, you’d think he was lucid, only to realize that he wasn’t. It was very emotional when we eventually had to move him to a home as it was the ultimate confirmation that he could no longer function. Our hope, as Mother Parkers gets fully behind this cause, is that one day we will be able to prevent this pain from happening to any other family.”

Courtesy of Newscanada