The Global Alzheimer’s Platform Foundation (GAP) thanks trailblazer Sandra Day O’Connor, the first female to serve as a U.S Supreme Court Justice. While she paved the way for women leaders, she also raised awareness of the challenges of caregiving when she admirably retired from the Supreme Court in 2006 to care for her husband who eventually passed away with Alzheimer’s Disease. With grace and dignity, she courageously announced her own diagnosis of dementia, likely Alzheimer’s Disease, in 2018.
By sharing her journey with dementia both as a caregiver and with her own diagnosis, she helped to elevate concern and a sense of urgency around finding a cure for this cruel disease. At GAP, we honor her legacy and continue to work towards the goal of finding treatments and disease-modifying therapies to help the millions impacted by Alzheimer’s. We admire her leadership, commitment, and bravery in living with the disease.
We join the many around the nation mourning her loss while recognizing the tremendous impact she had over her 93 years and her lasting legacy of empathy, equality and access. We send our most heartfelt sympathies to her family, friends, and those that knew and loved her.