June 8, 2023
Mrs. Rosalynn Carter
c/o The Carter Center
453 John Lewis Freedom Parkway NE
Atlanta, GA 30307-1406
Dear Mrs. Carter:
I read with heartfelt interest the news announcing your dementia diagnosis. Thank you for sharing this news so bravely and publicly. Receiving a dementia or Alzheimer’s diagnosis, and how that news impacts a family, is personal. Your announcement is personal, too.
I come from a family in which my father, his father, and others before them developed Alzheimer’s disease. Because I’ve seen the devastating effects of the disease up close, I am proud to work along with the global Alzheimer’s community to make urgent advancements in how we treat neurodegenerative diseases and the people living with them, with the hope of one day finding preventions or cures.
The decades of service that you and President Carter have lived out as public and private citizens, advocating for the health and prosperity of Americans, has been transformative. Even with this personally difficult news, you continue your service by sharing your diagnosis with dignity and hope.
Thank you for continuing such strong advocacy in the face of your own difficult diagnosis. I, and the entire staff of the Global Alzheimer’s Platform Foundation (GAP), will heed your call to bring more attention and kitchen table conversations to these issues, so that everyone may have better options for and access to treatment and care for their disease.
Very sincerely,
John M. Dwyer
President
Global Alzheimer’s Platform Foundation