Alzheimer is an illness that has been affecting over 5 million Americans, it’s symptoms are loss of memory, language difficulties and erratic behavior, most patients affected are over 65 years old. It ‘s not a normal part of aging, doctors have found patients with early symptoms in their 40’s and 50’s. It’s a progressive illness where the symptoms get worse in time, for now, there is no known cure. Most families living with an Alzheimer’s patients need the help of caregivers, since it get’s worse and even interferes with the normal daily activities, as you can imagine, this can be a very expensive lifestyle, and it’s a very worrying scenario, 1 of 9 Americans can have Alzheimer’s and every 66 seconds some American can be developing the disease. As the number of patients diagnosed has increased and since there is still no known cure, the Alzheimer’s association has been trying to raise awareness, raising funds for research, in order to help battle this memory loss illness.
Annually a walk to support the Alzheimer’s Association is done by team leaders all around the country, if you are in Santa Barbara, it will be held on Saturday, October 29 in Fess Parker DoubleTree Resort – Plaza del Sol, it will start at 9 a.m. and a beautiful opening ceremony very fun and festive will be at 10 a.m.. As of now, there are 41 teams registered and 112 participants. Santa Barbara is a great place for this walk to be held, it’s north of Los Angeles, with beautiful beaches and landscapes, people will surely enjoy this walk with the hope of helping raise awareness on such an important illness as Alzheimer is. If you want to come, visit and participate you can have an idea of this beautiful city on Kenny Slaught´s article about the attractions to visit in Santa Barbara.
What’s the story behind the memory walk?
As every event, there is a story behind it, the memory walk as it was called before began in 1989 with 1,249 walkers, it managed to raise almost $150.000 with the idea of supporting, caring and researching about Alzheimer’s. By 1993 the event went nationwide, raising more than 4 million dollars in 167 places. By 2015, it managed to motivate 50, 000 teams in around 600 cities, raising around 75 million dollars! This walk has moved millions of Americans to fight for a cause, give hope and increase research, now the motivation is to end Alzheimer’s and that’s the reason for the name change.
Whats a promise garden and how you can commit to one?
A promise graden is given on the day of the way with the wristband, it represents the reason why you are participating, they are symbolized in different colors, for example blue is if you are someone with Alzheimer’s or dementia, there is purple, if you have lost a loved on with this illness, there is also yellow if you are supporting or caring for someone with the disease and orange if you are supporting the cause and want to help out raising awareness. On the day you receive you flower you can write a message as a compromise that can help you strengthen your dedication to the cause.
Join a team, create a team or go individually
You can participate in different ways, there is the option of creating a team, you can be a team leader and have a group of your friends and family, they recommend groups of 8-12 people but there is no real limit. You can also join a team if you know of someone who is leading a team you can join their group as well. Finally, you can also walk on your own, everyone is invited!
What you need on the actual walk day
You need to have a great attitude, join you team members, let you team leader motivate you to have fun and help them in the fund raising. If the weather is rainy, bring a coat and umbrella, the walk is one rain or shine, it will only be canceled if extreme weather is reported. Strollers and well-behaved dogs with leashes will be allowed however bikes, roller blades, skateboards are considered not safe for all the other walkers. Enjoy a noble cause and support the end of Alzheimer´s.
If you want to be part of this amazing cause, walk with friends, family and even your coworkers as a team, giving hope to all of those who have been battling with such a strong illness, you can register like we said creating a team, join an already created team or even go on your own, but don´t miss this opportunity to help out on something that is affecting us all. Or you can find out more about how you can donate or volunteer, there are many ways of helping and everyone can be a part of the growing garden.