Washington
Capt. Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger III, best known for touchdown safely on the Hudson River after birds disabled both of the plane’s engines in 2009, has introduced he has Alzheimer’s disease.
Sullenberger, 75, posted an update to his private web site on Tuesday that stated he not too long ago discovered about the diagnosis, which is in an early stage.
“My doctor, Dr. Gil Rabinovici with UCSF Medical Center, has opened my eyes to the prevalence of Alzheimer’s,” Sullenberger stated in the submit. “This disease, he has told me, spares no age group and impacts millions of people around the world. It is the unwanted visitor at the door.”
Alzheimer’s is a progressive mind dysfunction that results in reminiscence loss and different mental inabilities. The disease is the commonest type of dementia. It is deadly and there’s no treatment, with sufferers experiencing extreme mind harm.
Sullenberger devoted a lot of his profession to aviation, as a business airline pilot, an accident investigator and US ambassador to the United Nations’ civil aviation group. He ceaselessly advocates for aviation security issues following his touchdown of US Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson, which was dramatized in the movie “Sully,” staring Tom Hanks.
“Over the years, when people would ask about the successful outcome of Flight 1549, I would say that ‘courage can be contagious,’ and on that day it helped everyone band together to get everyone off that airplane successfully,” he stated. “Now we need that courage to battle this disease. I am now part of a larger community with many of you, and we will be courageous together.”