Submitted

The Law Practice of Robert M. Goldberg, Spalding County chair of the Alzheimer’s Association Memory Walk, will host a kickoff social from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday at the Griffin Applebee’s in the Belk shopping center on U.S. Highway 19/41.

“According to the Alzheimer’s Disease Association, every 72 seconds someone in America develops Alzheimer’s disease,” Goldberg said. “Alzheimer’s disease is the most common dementia, accounting for 50 to 70 percent of cases. Its classic symptom pattern begins with memory loss for recent events.”

The year 2006 marked the 100th anniversary of a small medical meeting in Germany, where physician Alois Alzheimer presented the haunting case of Auguste D. Alzheimer first saw Auguste in 1901 when she was 51. She was plagued by symptoms that did not fit any known diagnosis: rapidly failing memory, confusion, disorientation, trouble expressing her thoughts and unfounded suspicions about her family and the hospital staff.

Auguste died after four years of steady decline that left her bedridden and mute, and Alzheimer performed an autopsy. In her brain, he found dramatic shrinkage, widespread dead and dying cells and two kinds of microscopic deposits he had never seen before.

“All in all,” he wrote in his presentation abstract, “we are faced obviously with a peculiar disease process.”

The mysterious disorder soon became known as “Alzheimer’s disease.”

In 1915, Alzheimer himself died at 51, never suspecting that his encounter with Auguste D. would one day touch the lives of millions and drive a massive international research effort.

“The Alzheimer’s Disease Memory Walk Social will help raise money for research of this dreaded disease. We are asking all attendees to make a small contribution to the Alzheimer’s Association, and know that your contribution is completely tax-deductible,” Goldberg said.

To reserve a place at the Memory Walk Social, call Kitty Thompson at 770-229-5729.