There will be many cases when researchers will need to look at data to come closer to a cure, in maybe five years, 10 years, 15 years. We can help make that data analysis easier. We can't let this wait. Dementia has potential to cripple our economy.
I've had five grandparents who have had Alzheimer's. I've been involved in raising money for two decades, so I thought, how could I combine my work with this commitment to helping dementia? One of the myths is that it's an older person's disease. We're seeing early onset dementia among people at 45. It's the disease of everybody.
We're thinking about how we can use Facebook as an early indicator of dementia. Family and friends can see how, for example, the person is talking about a journey they didn't go on or having lunch with a friend they didn't have lunch with. Can we use those as early alerts that maybe the person should see a doctor? The most important thing is early diagnosis.
