Terry Wells, Alzheimer’s Association volunteer sends this invitation to the readers of the Altus Times to come to the 3rd Annual Memory Walk:

Since there are more than 74,000 Oklahomans diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease, I will be walking in support of awareness. I hope everyone will join me at the Altus Community Center, Saturday, Nov. 3 at 10 a.m.

Quick facts:

5.4 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease. One in eight older Americans has Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s disease is the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States and the only cause of death among the top 10 in the United States that cannot be prevented, cured or even slowed. More than 15 million Americans provide unpaid care valued at $210 billion for persons with Alzheimer’s and other dementias. Payments for care are estimated to be $200 billion in the United States in 2012.

Alzheimer’s disease is the fifth-leading cause of death for those over age 65.

An estimated 800,000 individuals with Alzheimer’s (or one in seven) live alone.

Alzheimer’s Association. 2012 Alzheimer’s disease facts and figures. Alzheimer’s and Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association. March 2012; 8:131–168.