Approximately 300 walkers came together in downtown Mansfield on Saturday to make strides towards ending Alzheimer’s disease, a form of dementia affecting more than five million people in the United States.
Saturday’s Walk to End Alzheimer’s, hosted by the Northwest Ohio chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, led participants on a mile and a half trek through Mansfield. Crystal Lybarger, development and outreach coordinator for the Alzheimer’s Association, said the organization is the world’s leading nonprofit fundraiser of Alzheimer’s research.
“We’re here today because this disease has already gone too far,” said Lybarger during Saturday’s opening ceremony. “We’re here today because we know that together, we can go further by walking toward methods of treatment, prevention and ultimately, a cure.”
According to the event website, as of Saturday participants had raised $18,796 towards research, care assistance and other programs for the Alzheimer’s Association. Lybarger stated more than 210,000 people in Ohio have Alzheimer’s disease and are supported by more than 591,000 caregivers.
“Here locally the statistics are startling,” she said. “In Richland County there are more than 3,000 people living with the diagnosis and nearly 1,000 unpaid caregivers.”
One local woman who falls into that statistic is Dawn Pollock, whose mother was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s in 2003 at the age of 52. Pollock said she first started noticing changes in her mother in 2001, when she would repeat herself, leave out words or letters in her writing, and had difficulties remembering people she had known for years.
“As caregivers and family members, we have to learn to ask for help and to not feel guilty that we can’t do it alone,” said Pollock.
With her mother now at age 63, Pollock said her journey has been filled with both joy and sorrow.
“Alzheimer’s is a devastating, debilitating disease and the grief that you feel consumes you,” said an emotional Pollock. “I have learned that being angry will not change what has become of her. I still grieve every single day, but I embrace her life as it is now. She’s still here with me and she’s still fighting, and I am blessed and grateful to God that I can still be with her.”
Dawn Pollock and her husband Casey Pollock presented Lybarger and the Alzheimer’s Association with a check for $3,000 on Saturday, raised through their own efforts putting together a golf outing and a 5K. The Pollocks and many other local families were also represented Saturday through “Promise Garden” flowers.
Orange flowers represent people who support the cause and vision of the Alzheimer’s Association; yellow flowers represent families supporting or caring for someone with Alzheimer’s disease; purple flowers represent people who have lost someone to Alzheimer’s disease; and blue flowers represent people who have Alzheimer’s disease themselves.
“These flowers represent the promises we have come together to fulfill – a colorful display of the intent to honor, to remember, to care and to fight,” said Lybarger.
Lybarger then encouraged the crowd to look around and take in the colors surrounding them. Regardless of the color, she stressed that no one is alone in facing Alzheimer’s disease.
“We hope that you’ll continue to spread the word about this cause and ask your friends, family and co-workers to donate,” she said. “Alzheimer’s disease is not going to back down; neither should we.”
