By SARA GIBONEY
Kearney Hub

He made an appointment with his physician for a routine checkup.

"During the process, my primary-care physician asked me about functions at work," Cook said. "I had been having difficulty remembering small things. It was an attention issue more than a memory issue."

At 55, Cook had Alzheimer's disease.

Known as early onset Alzheimer's, the disease can affect people as young as 30 and affects about a half million people in the United States, according to the Alzheimer's Association.

With the help of a $300,000 federal grant, the association is finding people younger than 65 with significant memory loss so it can address their needs.

Alexandra Dillon, resource coordinator for the Alzheimer's Association Great Plains Chapter, said program participants must be living at home and be living in Adams, Buffalo, Custer, Hall, Kearney, Lancaster, Douglas, Sarpy, Dodge or Washington counties. They don't need a prior medical diagnosis.

"This is our opportunity to change the way people think about Alzheimer's," Dillon said.

The program is open to anyone younger than 65 who suffers from memory loss.

Qualifying participants will meet with a service coordinator for an assessment of their needs and to identify services such as legal and estate planning and medical services needed.

Dillon said diagnosing early onset Alzheimer's has been difficult because the disease is considered an older person's disease.

"These are people in their 40s and 50s who are paying mortgages, saving for their children's weddings -- they're in the prime of their lives," Dillon said. "Physicians aren't thinking of dementia for someone in their 40s."

Cook left his job as a professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln before his diagnosis.

"I had got to a place where I thought my job performance was not where it should be," Cook said. "It was the disease. But, it wasn't on my radar."

Dillon said one person with early onset Alzheimer's described having the disease as seeing the world through the light of a flashlight rather than a light bulb.

Dillon said the disease often starts with confusion.

Cook, who is a member of the Alzheimer's Association Early Onset Advisory Group, said in later stages of Alzheimer's, people forget the why and the how, but he often forgets the who and the when.

Cook said the disease can often go undiagnosed because people make excuses for not remembering.

"This disease is masked by how people create workarounds," Cook said. "They say, 'I made this mistake because I'm too busy or I was too distracted."'

Many people diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's also have problems obtaining Medicare after their diagnosis because they're not old enough, Dillon said.

Cook said it also often takes two to six years to receive disability benefits.

"It takes people who are high functioning out of jobs. It takes breadwinners out of paying for their children in college. It's a burden on spouses," Cook said.

The Alzheimer's Association also is working to change the process for eligibility for Medicare insurance.

Dillon said because of better diagnostic testing, early onset Alzheimer's is becoming easier to diagnose.

"Finding the diagnosis quickly is important because medication can slow down the disease," Dillon said. "It can't stop it, but it can give people more time."

Now, two years after Cook's diagnosis, he feels better than before he discovered he had the disease.

"I'm much healthier now than 18 months ago," Cook said. "I work out and changed how I eat. I'm much more knowledgeable and healthier. Tests to measure the effectiveness of the disease appear that I'm holding my own. I'm recapturing abilities."

Cook said his goal is to bring hope to people with the disease.

"I tell people I have this gift. The gift is I discovered the disease before it took hold of my life," Cook said. "I have the gift of early knowing. It wouldn't be much of a gift if I kept it to myself. The most important part of my message is that there is hope."

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Information from: Kearney Hub, http://www.kearneyhub.com/