Watch: Family Shares Story, Advocating for Caregivers

Columbia, S.C. (WOLO) — According to the Alzheimer’s Association 84,000 South Carolinians are living with Alzheimer’s, but this is only a small portion of those impacted.

The association says 300,000 caregivers are struggling and sacrificing to care for their loved ones in the Palmetto State alone.

The Sullivan family knows from firsthand experience the emotional and financial tolls of the disease.

“My mom was always a go getter, supermom to me. She came home one day and said I quit my job weeks ago,” April Hamilton tells ABC Columbia.

She says this instance would become one of many that launched her families’ search for understanding about her mother, Donna’s memory loss.

The unwanted answer: Donna is one of more than 5 million Americans suffering from Alzheimer’s. A diagnosis that sent shock waves through the entire family.

Hamilton’s father, Larry Sullivan says, “It’s just very hard to see the person you love just can’t do anything and there’s no cure for it.”

Dealing with the disease has proved problematic for the family as they were forced to sell their home due to mounting medical bills.

Taylor Wilson with Alzheimer’s Association says the majority of South Carolina’s 300,000 caregivers face similar struggles.

“In caregivers in particular they’ll always sacrifice their own needs for the person that they love so you have 84,000 South Carolinians facing Alzheimer’s disease but 300,000,” says Wilson.

According to Wilson, the HOPE for Alzheimer’s Act would lessen this burden, providing Medicare coverage for care planning services immediately after diagnosis.

“When we’re able to provide at the front of a diagnosis, we find that caregivers as well as those suffering from Alzheimer’s actually seem to be able to do a little bit better and stay at home a little bit longer.”

Providing more moments and more memories, two things April says she’ll always cherish.