ALTER TABLE query keeps timing out

I have a database that is "moderatley" large, around 11 Million rows.
Per the advice in this group, I am trying to add an index:

ALTER TABLE people ADD FULLTEXT('name');

However whenever I run this query, be it command line via SSH or in a
GUI client such as TOAD or Navicat, I keep getting a "disconnected
from mysql during query" error. This isn't a matter of simply getting
disconnected from the server; I've checked all my server logs and
everything.

It doesn't look like the query is being executed either way. Any tips
on how go get this column full-text indexed? Thanks guys,

Derrick