[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 28 (Wednesday, February 13, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1317-S1318]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                President Ronald Reagan and Alzheimer's

  Mr. MORAN. Mr. President, I wish to speak this afternoon in 
recognition of our late President, Ronald Reagan. I want to speak also 
about his wife Nancy, and I want to highlight their honest and 
passionate work to educate Americans about the real effects of 
Alzheimer's.
  Last Wednesday, February 6, would have been President Reagan's 108th 
birthday, and we paused then to reflect not only on the life and legacy 
of President Ronald Reagan, but we also remember the way he carried 
himself, the vision he set for our country, and the direction he 
steered our Nation.
  Years after he left the White House, the President and Nancy Reagan 
continued their public service to our Nation with grace and class, and 
that was true even as President Reagan was diagnosed with Alzheimer's 
disease.
  In November of 1994, President Reagan wrote a handwritten letter to 
Americans announcing this diagnosis that ultimately took his life.
  I read lots of biographies, I read lots of history, and this past 
week I finished a book, ``Reagan: An American Journey,'' written by Bob 
Spitz. The story of his circumstance with Alzheimer's captured my 
attention.
  The book quotes President Reagan telling his daughter, Patti: ``I 
have this condition . . . I keep forgetting things.''

       The doctors finally put a name to it. On November 4, 1994, 
     a doctor from the Mayo Clinic informed Nancy Reagan that, 
     having had an adequate chance to observe the president, the 
     diagnosis was conclusive: he had Alzheimer's.

  According to Fred Ryan, a staff member for the President and Mrs. 
Reagan, ``She was quite upset, emotional.'' She spoke at length later 
that evening: ``So we're going to tell him tomorrow,'' she said, ``and 
I'd like you to be there.''

       The next morning, a Saturday, they gathered in the library, 
     a small, comfortable room at the front of the house where the 
     Reagans typically received guests. The president seemed 
     puzzled when the doctor and Ryan arrived. ``Honey, come over 
     here and sit down,'' Nancy said, directing him to a couch 
     opposite the two men. ``The doctor has something he wants to 
     talk about.''
       The doctor didn't beat around the bush. ``We think you have 
     Alzheimer's,'' he told Reagan.

[[Page S1318]]

       ``Okay,'' he responded faintly. ``What should I expect?''
       ``We don't know much about it,'' the doctor admitted. 
     ``It's a degenerative disorder.'' He ran down a few of the 
     effects that Alzheimer's patients experienced while Nancy 
     Reagan struggled to control her emotions. She tried her 
     utmost to be supportive, but was overcome hearing about the 
     devastations of the disease. . . . He acknowledged, quite 
     bluntly, ``There is no cure.''
       ``Can I ask a few questions?'' Ryan interjected.
       While he and Nancy discussed how to handle the president's 
     activities--his schedule, office hours, appointments, and 
     appearances--Reagan wandered over to a small round table in a 
     corner and sat down, staring hypnotically into the yard. 
     After a few minutes, he picked up a pen and began to write. 
     When he finished, he handed two sheets of paper filled with 
     his cramped handwriting to [his staffer]. ``Why don't we get 
     this typed up and put it out,'' Reagan suggested.

  It was a letter dated that November 5, 1994.

       My Fellow Americans--

  It began--

       I have recently been told that I am one of the millions of 
     Americans who will be afflicted with Alzheimer's disease. . . 
     . At the moment I feel just fine. I intend to live the 
     remainder of the years God gives me on the earth doing things 
     I have always done. . . . Unfortunately, as Alzheimer's 
     Disease progresses, the family often bears a heavy burden. I 
     only wish I could spare Nancy from this painful experience. 
     When the time comes I am confident that with your help she 
     will face it with faith and courage.

And with faith and courage, indeed, President and Nancy Reagan faced 
the disease together.
  Together, they founded the Ronald and Nancy Reagan Research Institute 
at the Alzheimer's Association in Chicago, IL, focused on researching, 
understanding, and treating Alzheimer's disease.
  Over the past several decades, this research institute has awarded 
millions of dollars in Alzheimer's research grants and has continued to 
see breakthroughs in our understanding of this aggressive and 
disastrous disease.
  Congress has also rightfully come together in a nonpartisan manner to 
fight this disease head-on. For example, last December, just a few 
months ago, with legislation that was sponsored by our colleague from 
Maine, Senator Susan Collins, Congress passed and the President signed 
our BOLD Infrastructure for Alzheimer's Act, which aims to combat 
Alzheimer's through a collaborative public health framework. The BOLD 
Act will create an Alzheimer's public health infrastructure at the 
direction of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which will 
establish Alzheimer's centers for excellence across the country, award 
funding to public health departments to increase early detection and 
diagnosis, and increase data collection, analysis, and reporting 
through cooperative agreements with public and nonprofit entities.
  I am a member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and 
Human Services, led by my colleague from Missouri, Senator Blunt. I 
have advocated and successfully worked with my colleague Senator Blunt 
and the members of the committee to provide $2.3 billion for 
Alzheimer's disease research in FY 2019, finally reaching the $2 
billion funding goal for research laid out by the National Plan to 
Address Alzheimer's.
  I am the cochair of the Senate NIH Caucus, and I am optimistic that 
these funding increases, combined with NIH initiatives to map the human 
brain and further develop personalized medicine, will, I hope, lead us 
closer to an Alzheimer's treatment and a cure.
  Eleven years after President Reagan's death, Nancy Reagan continued 
her Alzheimer's advocacy work, helping to dramatically increase the 
attention and resources paid to the research of this disease. She 
recognized that degenerative diseases like Alzheimer's not only pose a 
financial burden to our Nation and health system but, more importantly 
and more significantly, these diseases threaten families with 
significant financial difficulty and tremendous emotional hardship.
  As President Reagan's primary caregiver during his battle with 
Alzheimer's, Nancy reminded us of the importance of caretakers and 
families and the struggles they themselves go through while watching 
loved ones suffer.
  As we continue our work to treat, cure, and prevent Alzheimer's and 
other degenerative diseases, we will also continue looking for ways to 
ease the financial and mental turmoil on caretakers, for they suffer so 
much as well.
  When President Reagan announced his Alzheimer's disease, he did so 
much more than just admitting to having the disease. He fought it, and 
he destigmatized it not only for himself but for those who came after 
him and for those still to come who may be faced with this same 
circumstance.
  In the closing letter that President Reagan wrote--and, incidentally, 
when he handed it to the staffer and said, ``Type it up and send it 
out,'' they read it and said, ``Let's just send it in your handwriting, 
Mr. President.'' So that is what happened, and in that closing letter, 
President said this:

       Let me thank you, the American people, for giving me the 
     great honor of allowing me to serve as your President. When 
     the Lord calls me home, whenever that may be, I will leave 
     with the greatest love for this country of ours and eternal 
     optimism for its future. I now begin the journey that will 
     lead me into the sunset of my life. I know that for America 
     there will always be a bright dawn ahead.

  I, too, believe that America's best days are ahead of us, and I 
implore Washington to reflect upon President Reagan's enduring 
optimism.
  Civil in disagreement and often willing to cross party lines to work 
toward solutions, I hope we can all remember, like President Reagan, to 
focus on the real issues facing our Nation, and I hope that all Members 
of the Congress, from all walks of life, will be bold in leveraging 
their life experiences to achieve greatness for our Nation, just as 
President Reagan and Nancy Reagan did, deepening America's resolve to 
fight this terrible disease.
  I honor President Reagan and his wife Nancy. I thank them for their 
service to our country, and I thank them for their attention to this 
disease, Alzheimer's. May we also have the courage and will to continue 
the battle to rid our country, its citizens, and the world of this 
affliction.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.