David Hyde Pierce
campaigning to tackle Alzheimer's

David Hyde Pierce is helping start a campaign against Alzheimer's disease, which he saw two family members suffer from.

''I think the hardest thing in both cases, with my grandfather and with my dad, were the moments when they understood what was happening to them,'' Pierce said on ABC's This Week program in a segment that aired Sunday. ''It's a disease that takes your brain apart, a piece at a time. And it doesn't stop till it kills you.''

The longtime Frasier costar and recent Tony winner said the Alzheimer's Association's Champions campaign aims to recruit one American for every person with Alzheimer's. A Web site lets people sign up for events, make donations, and buy T-shirts. More than 5 million people in the U.S. live with the disease, according to the association.

''All we have to do is find a way to slow it down,'' Pierce said. ''We're not trying to keep people from dying. We're trying to keep people from dying this way.'' (AP)