Terry Pratchett pledges $1 million to Alzheimer's Research Trust

Best-selling author Terry Pratchett has this morning pledged $1 million to the Alzheimer's Research Trust to help the UK charity find a cure for the disease with which he was diagnosed in December 2007.

Speaking at the charity's ninth Annual Network Conference in Bristol this morning, the Discworld author described the frustration he felt after learning he had a rare version of early-onset Alzheimer's disease, and the extreme lengths he would go to in order to beat the disease.

"Part of me lives in a world of new age remedies and science", he said, "and some of the science is a little like voodoo, but science was never an exact science, and personally I'd eat the arse out of a dead mole if it offered a fighting chance."

He committed himself to raising awareness of dementia and the urgent need for more research, saying: "I intend to scream and harangue while there is time."

The Alzheimer's Research Trust contrasts the fact that, for every person with Alzheimer's, £11 is spent each year on UK research compared with £289 for each cancer patient, even though similar numbers of people are affected.

www.alzheimers-research.org.uk