Bill Gates, the multi-billionaire and founder of Microsoft, revealed that his father, Bill Gates Sr., is suffering from Alzheimer's disease, an unfortunate disease that slowly corrupts the memory of the patient.
Gates first revealed that his 92-year-old father has Alzheimer's in an episode of "The Today's Show." Gates talked about how he is investing large sums of money to find a medical cure and treatment of this common yet heartbreaking disease.
"I have a father who's affected deeply by it. Only by solving problems like this can we take these medical costs and the human tragedy and really get those under control," he said in the interview.
Gates further gave details on how he plans to execute this fight against Alzheimer's, also known as dementia. According to the billionaire, too much money is spent on researches that focus on treatments that are repetitive and conventional, which could be the cause of stagnating researches.
Gates made it clear that he is planning to invest more in "unconventional" ways to study and treat dementia. He then pledged $50 million to the "Dementia Discovery Fund," an organization that the billionaire trusts in achieving it. The other half of it would go to Gates' own initiatives.
"One of the things we're trying to figure out is, when does the Alzheimer's really get started? When would you need to treat somebody to completely avoid them getting Alzheimer's?" Gates mentioned. Gates, now 62 years old, fears that there may be some correlation to his father's dementia, which could haunt his health later. The billionaire urges people to live a healthier life by eating right and doing regular exercise.
The philanthropist has long fought against Alzheimer's and several diseases worldwide. Gates has also committed and established several charity organizations for different causes, with the latest being climate change. As a co-chair of the biggest private charity in the world, named "Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation," the serial technopreneur has mainly fought against diseases such as HIV and Polio.
