Alzheimer NOT an immediate mental death sentence

According to Ben Hoyle, Arts reporter for Times on Line, bestselling fantasy author Terry Pratchett, 59, is suffering a rare form of Alzheimer disease, a condition he describes as an embuggerance.

He is continuing to work, and says of his illness (at Discworld/PJSMPrints.com),

I would just like to draw attention to everyone reading the above that this should be interpreted as 'I am not dead'. I will, of course, be dead at some future point, as will everybody else. For me, this maybe further off than you think -

It may indeed. A friend who is an Alzheimer education nurse insists that staying mentally active helps delay the progress of the disease. She even recommends learning another language. It sounds to me like Pratchett (who has sold 55 million books) has enough to do without that, because he continues to write, but here is some information and are some suggestions on staying mentally active, so as to slow the probgress of the disease.

The main thing, I suppose, is not to assume, without evidence, that one "can't" do things. Perhaps it's the old story: Use it or lose it.