Alzheimer’s is a fatal and progressive brain disease with no cure and no survivors. Contrary to popular belief, it’s not just a disease that strikes the elderly. It’s a disease that affects the young and old. It’s a disease that affects friends and family. And if it hasn’t already, it may affect you.

Alzheimer’s is the seventh-leading cause of death in the United States. As many as 5.3 million Americans live with the disease and its devastating symptoms.

And almost 10 million Americans provide unpaid care to a loved one with Alzheimer’s, a life-changing responsibility that is draining both emotionally and financially.

In the coming years, as many as 11-16 million Americans will develop the disease, including 10 million baby boomers. Alzheimer’s will bankrupt families, communities and our health care system.

Your chances of being diagnosed are increasing every day. Now people in their 30s, 40s and 50s are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

With your help, there is hope we can turn this epidemic around. All of the funds raised through QUASH® benefit the support, care and research efforts of the Alzheimer’s Association. To find out more, visit www.alz.org.

More about Quash here

We’ve had a wonderful month of February! It’s not every day that you get invited to the City Council because they want to name a day after you. Well, maybe it’s normal for some people but we were overwhelmed with honor when given this recognition.

We attended City Hall on “our day,” February 2nd. San Diego Councilmembers Todd Gloria and Marti Emerald presented us the proclomation and we followed with a few words about our adventures and how it was a tremendous feeling to represent San Diego well on national television. Meghan made the Council laugh by saying that we were proud to bring a title home to San Diego since our sports teams haven’t stepped up to the plate in quite some time. I think I heard someone say, “Touché.

Click to read the article

Anyone who has ever played on a competitive sports team knows that you develop a special bond with your coach. My high school soccer coach of four years, Howie Hawver, was always an inspirational person to me and not to mention hundreds of other San Diego youth. About a year ago Howie was diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gherig’s, a disease of the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary muscle movement. Unfortunately, Howie is bound to a wheel chair and is fighting to survive. His current condition has convinced us more than ever that we need to find a cure.

Cheyne and I wore red ALS wristbands on the Amazing Race in honor of Howie, constantly reminding us to live life to the fullest, enjoy every day and be nice to each other! Maybe that’s the reason we got along so well and became so successful on our journey. Maybe the red wristbands were our secret to success! So for all you future racers, support ALS and sport a red band!

To show our whole-hearted support for the San Diego Chapter of the ALS Association, we ran a relay in the Carlsbad Half Marathon with a team we gathered called “Meghan and Cheyne’s Race for Coach Howie.” We ran alongside the speedy wheelchair of a man with ALS and pushed the empty chair of Darin Laird, who recently lost his life to the terrible disease. It just reminds us that we need to give back to amazing organizations like ALS and in the meantime, live life like there’s no tomorrow. Click here (video link) to take a quick look at a clip from the half marathon. Check out the inspiring book “Tuesday’s with Morrie” for a great, quick read that tells a story of a man living with the disease.

Click to read an article from Dianne Bell

A few of our fellow Amazing Race 15 teams (Brian/Ericka, Sam/Dan, Tiffany/Maria) and us decided it was time for a reunion and there was no better place to do it than Vegas! Not only was it the location of the final challenge and the city where Cheyne and I took home the million bucks, it was the weekend of the Miss America Pageant— an event that demanded the attendance of our very own Miss America 2004, Mrs. Ericka Dunlap.

As part of the action-packed weekend, we woke up at the crack of dawn to take part in a Habitat for Humanity event where we helped build, paint and prep two homes for people in need.  We got down and dirty with the beauty queens and though Maria Ho has never entered a pageant, you would have thought she owned a few crowns of her own as she painted stucco while wearing designer jeans and clutching her Louis Vuitton bag.

It felt good to work hard and give back to those in need while in Vegas.  It’s about time someone did something positive while visiting Sin City. Check out this video of us at work! (Click to see the video )

The amazing people at the San Diego Wild Animal Park offered us an adventure-filled day at the park. We never thought that competing on the Amazing Race would lead to so many perks!  What a perfect way to start a new year, or better yet, a brand new decade!

We were greeted at the park by super friendly staff, met up with reporters from local newspapers and took off on a safari caravan right through the animals’ habitat. I can now affirm that giraffes are the most interesting and beautiful animals on the planet. We were also granted a rare opportunity to feed rhinos, who by the way create an infinite amount of saliva in their blubbery mouths when you attempt to feed them apple slices. We also got an aerial view from nearly 1,000 feet above as we took the zip-line across the park. We felt pressure to act like it was no-big deal after the Amazing Race, but I felt Cheyne’s heart racing at the top! The animals stared straight up at us as we flew by at nearly 50 mph. After lunch, we took an off-road segway tour until the sun set.

As always, Cheyne, in his typical thoughtless fashion, managed to get scolded by park staff when he fed a giraffe using his own mouth and again when tried to take his segway up a nearly 90 degree incline. I felt like I was a kindergarten teacher on a field trip. Oh, the life with Cheyne.

Click to see the video

Click to read the article

After busting out Jeremy McGrath’s dad on the second hand of the tournament, I didn’t expect to get the warm fuzzies from the king of motorcross. After a couple hands, a few cheers and shots of Patron with the motocross slayer, Jeremy hands me his cell phone and says “my mom wants to talk to you.” She explains to me how their whole family is big fans of the Amazing Race and to my surprise, Jeremy recalled moments on television that he watched of Meghan and me, all while I played an endless Jeremy McGrath highlight reel in my head.

Although neither of us or our favorite female poker comrades Tiffany Michelle and Maria Ho, took home the title, we had an awesome night swapping chips with the DC staff and team riders. Ultimate highlight of the night — watching motocross and Nitro Circus sensation Jolene Van Vugt trash talk anyone within a ten-foot radius. Much love to the DC crew.