Save The Memory - Sammi Oberman Bat Mitzvah Alzheimer's Research Fundraiser

Sammi Oberman is 12 years old and will be celebrating her Bat Mitzvah on February 20th, 2010, and wants to invite you to help her mark this day with the mitzvah of tzedakah.

Four years ago at the age of 54 her Uncle Jonny was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s. It has come to a point now where he can barely speak and doesn’t even recognize her, let alone have any memories of their time together.

For her Bat-Mitzvah Sammi is trying to gain awareness for Alzheimer’s and get 1,800 people to think about her Uncle Jonny because he can’t think for himself. She is calling it Save the Memory. It’s too late to save her Uncle Jonny’s memory, but by donating to Alzheimer’s research with hope we can save the memory of others.

Please click here to make a donation that will make a difference. Click Fund and in the box to the right select the option titled Sammi’s Bat-Mitzvah Alzheimer’s Research Fund. This will ensure that your donation will go towards Alzheimer’s research. Thank you for your generosity.

For more information about Sammi and her uncle, please visit Sammi's Save The Memory Blog.

Hebrew University on the Forefront of Alzheimer's Research

Research carried out at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has resulted in a promising approach to help treat Alzheimer’s disease in a significant proportion of the population that suffers from a particularly rapid development of this disease. In the research at the Silberman Institute of Life Sciences of the Hebrew University, scientists solved a mystery as to why people who carried a mutated gene known as BChE-K were prone to more rapid development of Alzheimer’s than those who had a normal version of the gene. This mutation appears in about 20 percent of the American and Israeli populations. Indeed, these carriers tend to develop the disease later than others, but when that happens, it progresses more rapidly and does not respond to medication. Therefore, the bottom line is that carriers of the mutated gene have a greater risk than others for disease progression. The reason for this anomalous situation has been a puzzle for a long time, but the studies by the Hebrew University scientists solved it by finding the explanation for this increased risk, thereby offering as well a possible new therapeutic solution.