Help us reach our goal!
2,189.2 miles = $218,920
Miles Walked: 2,189.2 Miles
Amount Raised: $31,297.04
(Click 'Please Donate' button to donate and receive your tax receipt).
Why are we walking for Alzheimer's?
Anda and Arlene will walk one of the most challenging long-distance trails on earth to raise money in support of
the Alzheimer Society. Our hope is that this effort will help contribute to a cure for ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE so that the suffering, heart ache and heart break can stop. Help us to reduce the
suffering. We pledge our six-month challenge so that aging with dignity can prevail. Please support us.
Did you know that women represent 72% of Canadians living with Alzheimer’s disease? The prevalence of this disease and the social impact it will have is going to be a challenge for our society. 'Our society' is not some abstract concept that is out there somewhere remote from us. Our children, grandchildren, family, friends and neighbours will hold the quality of our care in their hands.
This very real disease will touch everyone no matter who you are, if not you then someone that you know or your friend or colleague knows. People who have lifetimes of memories slowly losing touch with everything that they have ever known. The care they need is but a fraction of the overall burden to society.
The need for massive research is needed now more than ever. If we can truncate the pathway a new drug that will help lessen the rate of deterioration and thus the societal burden of care, by a week or a month, we will have made a difference.
My Mother and Dementia
My mother and father immigrated to Canada in 1954 as part of the massive post WWII exodus from the Netherlands, immigrants hoping to find a better life themselves and their children. My father died unexpectedly on Christmas morning when he was 66 years old. My mother had just turned 67. I can hardly imagine the tragedy of it after so many years of hard work, saving and sacrifice.
My younger sister got breast cancer 4 years later and would die of metastatic disease five years later leaving her husband and three young daughters.
My mother never recovered. While not directly related to these tragedies, her memory started to slip slowly. She was ruthlessly independent and would not consider help or interference of any kind. She would live her life her own way. My brother and I lived overseas and the bulk of care fell to my brother-in-law, who regularly visited and helped my mother. She loved it. She did get tremendous joy from her grandchildren who would visit from time to time to relate the crises of their teenage lives. My middle daughter studying nursing regularly took shifts to visit with her 'Beppe', preparing meals, playing rummi and generally chatting about her life challenges. My youngest daughter sent her postcards and packages of her travels and life in China, keeping her entertained with all the details of her life and what she was learning and experiencing.
Her ability to care for herself continued to deteriorate as did her quality of life. If she was in her home she could cope. She knew where things were most of the time and could just manage, but we were worried and could anticipate a time when this would end. I would pick her up at her house and bring her home for dinner, pack up a dinner for her for the following day, and drive her home. I realized that if I didn't cover the plate with cellophane she would not notice it was in the fridge. Even then if I missed a day of visiting I would find food that had gone uneaten. I would make up reasons to run errands to places that I knew she enjoyed, particularly garden centres. I would call in the morning and every day it was the same "well you have to come all the way here to pick me up, and then you will have to drive me home". I assured her everyday that is wasn't that far out of my way and that she could stay for dinner and I would drive her home afterwards.
In the fall of 2009 I was away on a trip for six weeks and called my mother only to find out she was in terrible pain and was having trouble breathing. I called my brother-in-law who managed to get her to the hospital and I was on the next plane home. As it turns out she had advanced lung cancer which none of her doctors had picked up. While she initially fought being in the hospital and insisted that she was going home. Within a few days she became comfortable and reassured by the care. Unfortunately she deteriorated very quickly, and was heavily sedated because of the pain. Eighteen days after my mother entered hospital, she passed away.
Anda