Alzheimer’s and dementia are diseases that impact not only the person afflicted but everyone around them. This month, people across the state will be participating in walks to raise money to fund research for a cure.
There will be three walks in New Hampshire this September, sponsored by the Alzheimer’s Association of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. They include a walk in Keene on Sept. 14, a walk in Manchester on Sept. 21 and a walk in Portsmouth on Sept. 22.
During the Walks to End Alzheimer’s, teams of walkers or individuals collect pledges which will go to funding the Alzheimer’s Association’s mission.
Heather Maloney, director of communications for the Alzheimer’s Association, said the organization expects to raise over $600,000 to support Alzheimer’s research and fund care and support programs the association provides with revenue raised by walking teams.
The Keene walk currently has 246 participants and is anticipated to raise about $39,000, though teams are still signing up.
The Alzheimer’s Association is the largest nonprofit funder of Alzheimer’s disease research.
Owen Houghton of Jaffrey is one of the organizer’s for the western New Hampshire Alzheimer’s walk. He is also a long-time participant. He plans to walk in the Keene event on behalf of his late wife, Norma Houghton, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2010, and who he cared for until her death earlier this year, on July 11. Houghton’s a regular at the walk, which he used to attend with his wife, when she was still able to participate.
Houghton said he wants to take the stigma out of dementia.
“Some people get very fearful and in denial when they’re dealing with a mental illness,” Houghton said. “My wife was a nurse educator, and we both agreed when she was diagnosed, we’d do everything to make this journey we were going through public.”
For Julie Thompson of Lyndeborough, who participates in the Manchester walk in memory of her mother, being surrounded by a community of caretakers and family members of people impacted by the disease is comforting. While caring for her mother, her family was her only support, she said – she wasn’t aware of resources such as the Alzheimer’s Association.
“I just found it a struggle,” Thompson said, of trying to care for her mother, who had to move through several different care facilities as she deteriorated and needed increasing levels of care. “It’s a wonderful experience to meet with people that had the same struggles I did.”
Thompson said her family has been hard hit by various forms of dementia, with both her mother and members of her husband’s family having been diagnosed. She’s walking for them, but also, she said, for herself, in hopes that eventually, she’ll be able to live in a world where Alzheimer’s isn’t a looming threat.
“Who knows what’s in store for me, down the road?” she said, about why she walks. “There needs to be a cure.”
According to the Alzheimer’s Association, there are more than 5 million American’s currently living with Alzheimer’s disease. Many rely on a support network to provide for their care, meaning more than 16 million family members and friends are providing unpaid care for family members with Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia.
It’s also the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States.
“We can put a man on the moon, but we haven’t resolved the sixth-leading cause of death in this country,” Houghton said.
Houghton said Alzheimer’s is a “relentless” disease – and so the fight against it must be, too.
“It needs to be. It [Alzheimer’s] leaves a lot of people in shambles. It smashed dreams of what we were going to do in our retirement. Our five grandchildren essentially didn’t have a grandmother. The quest and search for a cure should be relentless.”
If you or a family member is dealing with Alzheimer’s or dementia and are in need of support, contact the Alzheimer’s Association 24/7 helpline, which provides links to the association’s programs and services, at 1-800-272-3900. For more information about the upcoming walks, to donate to a team, or to start your own team, visit http://www.Alz.org.
The Keene Walk to End Alzheimer’s will begin at Keene State College on Sept. 14. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m., and the walk begins at 10 a.m.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.