Various

[Guest guest]

Re. a spokesperson: the most famous person I've heard of who has died

to date of CJD is Balanchine (legendary choreographer of the NYC

ballet) . I've often wondered if someone in his family would work on

behalf of CJD / possibly prevail upon someone famous in the NY art world

to act as a spokesperson.

Re. Tampa story. I know Miami is a long way from Tampa, but perhaps

someone from the CJD Foundation has contacts there?

Re. " Preventing Alzheimer's. " I too used to be really offended when I

heard news stories suggesting that keeping one's mind active could

" prevent Alzheimer's. " Stories like this have a kind of blame-the-victim

mentality, appealing to those who would like to believe Alzheimer's

couldn't posisbly happen to THEM. The more studies I've read, though,

the more I see there is a grain of truth in this idea. Keeping one's

mind active creates more neuronal networks, and the more connections in

the brain, the longer one is likely to be able to function, even with

Alzheimer's. In other words, keeping one's mind active isn't going to

PREVENT Alzheimer's, but it might delay the onset of obvious symptoms by

a few months or years.

Elaine