‘Time is precious’u

The odds are against her, as two-thirds of people with the disease are women. Blacks are also two times more likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

“The African-American community is the canary in the coal mine in America, so what happens to us usually ends up happening to the general population later,” Gasby said. “Of all diseases, this is the most dramatic because this is the one that separates you from your humanness.”

In their years of advocating for awareness, Gasby said he’s seen a problem, especially in the black community, with people not wanting to talk about issues like cognitive degeneration or dementia.

He likened it to the time he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and found out his best friend had the disease years betry, and never told him about it.

“That’s the problem we don’t talk about the things that really matter,” Gasby said. “We’ll talk about what the Kardashians are doing, what’s the latest thing on some meaningless reality show, but the things you don’t talk about are the ones that can kill you.”

The couple co-authored a book “Before I Forget: Love, Hope, Help, and Acceptance in Our Fight Against Alzheimer’s” and have partnered with the Brain Health Registry.

They said they hope to bring more awareness and incite more funding to a disease that will increasingly be a problem as people are living longer with modern technology and medicine.

Every 66 seconds, someone is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. And each of those victims will need an average of three caregivers, so that’s about 40,000 lives changing each week because of Alzheimer’s.

“If that was Ebola, it would be a pandemic. If that was Zika, we’d be nuking places with mosquito spray, so why aren’t we doing more for Alzheimer’s?” he said. “That’s what bothers me so much.”

Gasby said what scares him most is that in 10 or 20 years, nothing about the disease and its treatment will have changed. While other diseases, like cancer, have made strides in recent years, research is essential to help deconstruct Alzheimer’s disease and find an effective treatment method.

He applauded the creation of the Wake Forest center in a state that ranks in the top 10 for Alzheimer’s disease. The center will also look at under-served communities with the disease and explore how diet and exercise affect cognition.

Smith’s diagnosis has taught him a lot of life lessons, Gasby said, and he plans to spend the rest of his life fighting alongside his wife for awareness and a cure.

“You learn time is precious and, that at the end of the day, you should do some good,” Gasby said. “We got dealt a tough hand but we’re going to play the hand for others, not just ourselves.” ROCK DOG