The Longest Ride: Bethel Park woman bikes to raise funds, Alzheimer’s disease awareness
Courtesy of Brittany Grego
Dayna Brown, right, and her friend, Lori Graham, stop for a quick break along their 154-mile journey from home to Ohiopyle and back again. The duo undertook the trek June 25 to raise funds and awareness for the Alzheimer’s Association as part of The Longest Day campaign.
Courtesy of Brittany Grego
Dayna Brown, left, raised more than $5,000 for the Alzheimer’s Association this year as part of The Longest Day initiative. Brown, who runs and enjoys yoga, and her friend, Lori Graham, right, rode 154 miles June 25 to raise awareness for the disease.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Bethel Park’s Dayna Brown undertook her first The Longest Ride fundraising bike ride in 2018, the year after her mother passed away from Alzheimer’s disease. She is surprised the research on Alzheimer’s isn’t more advanced, and rides 140 miles or more every year to raise money and awareness for the Alzheimer’s Association.
On The Longest Day, Dayna Brown embarked on her longest ride.
“I just started right in my driveway, got on the trail and continued on to the Great Allegheny Passage by way of the Montour Trail and the Steel Valley Trail,” said Brown, who undertook a 154-mile journey from her Bethel Park home to Ohiopyle and back June 25. “The ride itself was perfect. We had perfect weather, no mechanical breakdown. And at the end, we had a celebration at the Trolley Stop.”
Brown celebrated her fifth annual The Longest Day bike ride, which she completed alongside good friend and Clintonville resident Lori Graham. Every year, Brown and co-riders log Tour de France-like miles on or near June 21 – the summer solstice – to raise funds and awareness for the Alzheimer’s Association Greater Pennsylvania Chapter.
Brown’s involvement in The Longest Day began in 2018, the year after her mother passed away. Brown’s mother had been diagnosed and lived with Alzheimer’s for years.
“I was just looking for something to, you know, feel good about myself and give back,” said Brown. “A week before The Longest Day, I decided to do it. I really hadn’t been on the bike but I figured, how hard could it be?”
Brown set a fundraising goal of $300 and determined to ride 150 miles and change from her home to Ohiopyle and back (the same route she completed this year). Within a week, Brown had raised more than $1,200 through Facebook and LinkedIn. The day before her much-anticipated ride, storms rolled through the area, washing away sections of the trails.
Brown spent the solo journey pushing her bicycle through puddles.
“I jokingly say now, that first year my Garmin died, my cellphone died and I died,” she laughed. “It was so muddy. I told myself, my mom wasn’t given a choice when she got Alzheimer’s. I could not do this, but I am going to do this … in honor of my mom. I didn’t think I would quit at 110 miles. But it’s all part of the story, all part of the journey to get to where I am now.”
This year marked Brown’s third attempt at the Ohiopyle route, and she raised more than $5,000 for the Alzheimer’s Association through Facebook and LinkedIn. That first The Longest Ride was grueling, but half a decade into her quest to raise awareness for Alzheimer’s, Brown has her training regimen down to a science.
She supplements her usual running routine with bike rides, including several 70-mile trial runs in preparation for The Longest Day sojourn.
“I do all my training alone. It gives me an opportunity to get into my own head. It’s been extremely therapeutic, reflecting on why I’m doing this, how I can help other people,” she said. “I also do think about my parents and about what kind of a difference I can be making.”
Brown’s The Longest Ride is making a difference: Not only does she fundraise for the Alzheimer’s Association (funds raised support patient care, education and research), Brown raises awareness.
Like most Americans, before her family was touched by the disease, Brown knew the basics of Alzheimer’s – the memory loss, mainly. When she and sister Erica Suvak noticed their mother was different, the sisters urged their father to take her for testing.
Tests confirmed their suspicions: Brown’s mother had Alzheimer’s disease.
“That was my first experience of really knowing someone that had Alzheimer’s. My sister and I didn’t really know what to think,” said Brown.
The family watched the well-educated and thoughtful woman lose herself.
Brown’s mother went through phases: She hoarded newspapers, collected the mail upstairs. She entered buildings with sliding double doors backwards, and tried to exit moving vehicles.
“My dad would be driving and she would just open the door,” said Brown. “It was just so heartbreaking to watch someone who was an educator – she was a teacher, one of her passions in life was teaching young children how to leave. And toward the end, she wasn’t talking. She had difficulty communicating.”
Earlier this year, Brown’s father – who recently celebrated his 93rd birthday – was diagnosed with dementia. The experience, Brown said, has been “totally different.”
“One day, he was this way, and then the very next day, it was like, what just happened here? And there was no going back,” she said.
Brown’s father became obsessed with doctor’s appointments; he experienced hallucinations.
“I made the mistake of reading my mom’s obituary to my dad. He said, ‘How come no one told me?'” Brown said. “It almost felt like our dad was living his own little private hell on earth.”
Her parents’ different but equally devastating experiences with dementia and Alzheimer’s has fueled Brown to get involved.
“This year, I’ve been a little bit more emotional about my work with the Alzheimer’s Association,” said Brown. “My parents … would be mortified if they knew that we were being so public with this story. But my sister and I talked about it. We want families to know that they need to be talking about this.”
Brown serves on the local The Longest Day planning committee and this year hosted two workshops.
“I want to make life better for other people who could potentially be caregivers for someone that is experiencing Alzheimer’s,” she said. “And I want the quality of life for those people who have Alzheimer’s and dementia to be better. And I want people to have hope that at some point you’re going to have treatments and we are going to have a cure for this.”
The Alzheimer’s Association Greater Pennsylvania Chapter recently advocated in Harrisburg for easier access to treatment, and additional funding to provide nursing homes with more trained staff. The organization also offers a myriad of resources for patients and caregivers, including a 24/7 helpline: 800-272-3900.
“Every 65 seconds, someone in the United States develops Alzheimer’s. In the next probably three decades, it’ll go down to every 33 seconds. I mean, this is going to be of epic proportions.”
The Alzheimer’s Association, Brown said, stressed early detection and intervention.
Detection can be challenging; often, individuals who suspect their own mild cognitive decline won’t get tested, because a diagnosis is overwhelming, or people simply don’t know what signs to look for.
“Mild cognitive decline – everyone will experience that as they age. The difference is like if you lost your keys … typically you’ll retrace your steps. Someone that has a form of dementia or Alzheimer’s … won’t have the ability to retrace their steps.”
Brown encourages people to know the signs of cognitive decline, which can be found online at https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/10_signs, and to get tested.
Prevention is just as important as early detection and intervention, Brown said.
“It’s stuff that you know already, on healthy living. Get your rest, stay social, eat a good, balanced diet,” said Brown.
Brown said one thing she wishes she knew before her parents’ diagnoses was how much support there is for Alzheimer’s and dementia caregivers.
“I would have gotten involved in the Alzheimer’s Association (sooner). I would have been a lot more mentally prepared for some of the challenges. I would be more familiar with what resources were available to me,” Brown said. “The one piece of advice I think I would give to people who are … dealing with people with Alzheimer’s and dementia is, it is a one-day-at-a-time thing.”
And for Brown, a “one longest bike ride at a time” thing. She’s already looking forward to next year’s The Longest Day, and plans on raising more funds and more awareness. Brown said she may scale back the mileage of her longest ride to get more people involved, and the more people working for a cause, the better.
“The motto behind The Longest Day is, ‘The longest day with the most light is the day we fight.’ You can pick what you want to do, when you want to do it and how you want to go about your fundraising efforts,” said Brown. “I just want other people to know more about (the Alzheimer’s Association) so they can make a difference as they see fit.”