Readers of this blog know that I’ve commented several times over the years about the ravages of Alzheimer’s disease.

It struck down my mother at an early age. She was 61 when she died 30 years ago. She never got the chance to grow old, to watch her grandchildren grow up and to enjoy those so-called “golden years.”

I’ve noted with dismay that research for Alzheimer’s disease — a degenerative condition that eats away at a person’s brain — has been given the short shrift. Public attention has turned to HIV/AIDS, various forms of cancer and even chronic depression.

Why, I learned this week that Congress is planning a hearing to discuss the dangers of drowsy driving.

Drowsy driving is dangerous? Who knew?

Meanwhile, 5 million Americans are suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Their loved ones will suffer the most. Eventually, Alzheimer’s patients lose all cognitive ability. They won’t know their names, or the names of those who love them. They tend to become incontinent. The effects of this disease are ghastly in the extreme.

The numbers are going to grow as the nation continues to age.

Well, another member of my family has announced that he has been diagnosed with early onset of this disease. I won’t reveal who it is because he doesn’t yet know that I am disclosing this news.

He said in an email that he has “a long way to go prior to ‘losing it.’ and now I’m on medication to slow the progression even further.”

This family member is very dear to my wife, our sons and to me.

My intention is to use this forum as a bully pulpit to keep calling attention to the need to step up Alzheimer’s disease research, to find a cure, perhaps a vaccine and to improve therapies that can arrest the inevitable deterioration that this disease brings upon those who suffer it.

While the media keep hyping an Ebola “crisis” that doesn’t exist in this country, they are giving scant attention to an actual crisis that is claiming the lives of Americans every day.