Nearly everyone has been affected in some way by Alzheimer’s Disease. Many turned their experiences with the disease into determination to join forces with others with the same passion to put an end to Alzheimer’s on Saturday morning, September 16 at the Walk to End Alzheimer’s held at the Zane State College campus.
“It’s an honor to be part of the world’s largest event to fight this devastating disease!” Vince McGrail, Zanesville Native and Executive Director of the Alzheimer’s Association Central Ohio Chapter exclaimed in his opening speech to kick off the ceremony. He continued with, “Currently, in the United States, there’s over 6 million people including 220,000 here in the state of Ohio that are living with Alzheimer’s and for each one of them, there are two to three people serving as their caregivers.”
Everyone had a defined reason to attend the united effort to raise money for the effort. Many held colored flowers depicting in a silent yet powerful way how they were closely impacted by the disease. Blue flowers meant the person holding it was living with Alzheimer’s, yellow stood for supporting or caring for someone with the disease, orange represented supporting the cause and a vision of a world without Alzheimer’s and all other dementia, and lastly those holding purple had sadly lost someone to Alzheimer’s.
McGrail shared his reason to walk. “For me, I walk for my Aunt Eleanor, she helped raise me and my sisters, and our family lost her three years ago. And I walk for my Aunts who are here in the Zanesville area, who are in the middle of this journey, and for my cousins who serve as their caregivers. And I walk for my father-in-law who is just recently diagnosed.”
“Currently, the association is funding more than $360 million dollars in more than 1,000 new research projects in 53 countries. We are moving research forward faster with your help! – And we are already seeing the results of the efforts, there are now multiple FDA treatments that can change the course of Alzheimer’s in a meaningful way for people diagnosed in the early stage of the disease, and more potential treatments in the pipeline. — Here in Zanesville for the walk to end Alzheimer’s we set an ambitious goal to raise more than $50,000 this year. We came close to that last year, so far we have raised just over $33,000,” McGrail explained.
The fundraising efforts don’t stop with the event on the 16th. Donations can be made through December. Visit https://tinyurl.com/27cj29p3 to donate.
“We are making progress, and I know that we’ll end Alzheimer’s and together we’re gonna get there faster! We’ll go further by joining with volunteers and partners to amplify our strength and accelerate our efforts!” McGrail exclaimed.