Updating this story, BBC news is reporting that Discworld creator Terry Pratchett will announce a donation of $1 million at the Alzheimer’s Research Trust (ART) annual conference on 13 March. As part of his presentation, Pratchett intends to push the leading dementia specialists to find a cure, saying “I intend to scream and harangue while there is time.”
He notes that there are about the same number of Alzheimer’s patients as they are cancer patients in the UK, and “in most cases, alongside the sufferer you will find a spouse suffering as much,” and adds that he was shocked “to find out that funding for Alzheimer’s research is just 3% of that to find cancer cures.”
The chief executive of the ART, Rebecca Wood, said that the trust turns down nearly two-thirds of all research project requests due to a lack of funds. “Whilst we were deeply saddened to learn of Mr. Pratchett’s diagnosis, we are delighted that he has chosen to speak out about his experiences with Alzheimer’s disease, to raise awareness about its impact and the desperate need for more research.” She went on to say “Research is the only way to beat this disease and help people like Terry—to prevent them losing their thinking skills and keep them doing the things they love.”
Pratchett’s form of Alzheimer’s, which is rare, is called posterior cortical atrophy, in which areas at the back of the brain begin to shrink and shrivel.
For the full BBC article, see this link. For the ART’s press release announcing Pratchett’s donation, see this link. For the text of his presentation to the ART, in which he talks about Lara Croft’s buttocks, the Kingdom of Dementia, the Kingdom of Mania, L. Ron Hubbard, and vodoo, see this three-page pdf file.