Sports stars, Alzheimer's victims plead for funding

By LARA JAKES JORDAN
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) Dwayne Uptegraph, a 57-year-old Iowan suffering from Alzheimer's disease, stumbled over words, lost his place and blinked back tears of frustration Tuesday when reading a short statement on Capitol Hill.

Vietnam veteran and Alzheimer's patient Donald Kurtz, of Blue Bell, Pa., told lawmakers in a halting voice that research on the disease should be one of the nation's ``most important priorities'' even in a time of war.

Even tough-guy football stars Terrell Owens, a wide receiver for the San Francisco 49ers, and St. Louis Rams head coach Mike Martz sounded vulnerable when detailing how Alzheimer's ``robbed'' their close relatives of their memories and dignity.

Owens' grandmother is fighting the disease.

All four testified in front of a Senate subcommittee that will, in part, determine how much federal funding is spent on Alzheimer's research next year. They joined three medical experts, including the head of the National Institute of Aging, to ask for an additional $200 million in 2004 over the $644 million now being spent on research.

Four million Americans are currently battling Alzheimer's disease, officials said, a number that is expected to rise to 14 million by 2050.

``With Mom, we lost that ability to communicate even on the most simple level,'' Martz testified of his late mother, Betty, who eventually died of lung cancer after suffering from Alzheimer's for several years.

``I surely was not prepared for the emotional impact watching my own mother lose her mind and her dignity,'' Martz said. ``As of now, there is no hope for patients or their families. We must find a way to stop Alzheimer's.''

The Bush administration has budgeted another $20 million bringing the total to $664 million for Alzheimer's research in the 2004 fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1, Senate aides said.

But that would not be enough to pay for prevention tests that cost up to $30 million each, said Marilyn A. Albert, co-director of the Alzheimer's Disease Center at Johns Hopkins University. It also won't pay for new imaging techniques, which would cost $60 million, that help with better treatment and earlier diagnosis by monitoring changes in the brain, she said.

``If you give us the money, we'll get the job done,'' Albert told the lawmakers.

A spokesman for the White House Office of Management and Budget did not immediately return a call seeking comment Tuesday afternoon.

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On the Net:

Senate Appropriations Committee: http://appropriations.senate.gov/index.htm

Alzheimer's Association: http://www.alz.org/

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)