Aug 11, 2014 4 min read

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Warm greetings of “Aloha” and tiki torches vied with a chill wind and whirring ceiling fans as those who gathered outdoors at Southpointe learned about fundraising techniques that might assist them in their quest to halt Alzheimer’s disease.

Who could guess that the launch for the Walk to End Alzheimer’s fundraiser would coincide with one of the cooler nights in a summer of below-average temperatures? Those who had donned the Hawaiian shirts of State No. 50 might wish the theme had rather allowed them to wear mukluks and anoraks from State No. 49.

The Alzheimer’s Association hopes to raise awareness for the disease, and anyone passing this shivering but hardy group would wonder why the heavy cloud cover did not drive them indoors. They were, after all, focusing on an outdoor endeavor.

The cynic in me wondered if temperatures at Washington Park on Saturday morning, Sept. 13, the date for the Walk to End Alzheimer’s, might hover around 90 degrees with humidity to match.

Whatever the weather, it could not be crueler than Alzheimer’s disease, the fate of 5.4 million Americans. If we wait long enough, the weather will get better. They won’t. There is yet no cure for Alzheimer’s and dementia, but that’s not going to keep researchers from trying. Hence the fundraising.

“I’ve always thought of Alzheimer’s as the scarlet A,” said Chris Beros, a registered nurse and advocate on behalf of those who have the disease.

Former Washington County commissioner Bracken Burns spoke lovingly of his late mother, Jane Cecilia, but his sorrow over her dementia, which he called “the ugly sister of Alzheimer’s,” was evident.

“When dementia hit, it all went to hell in a hand basket,” Burns recalled. “She lost her dignity, she lost her memory, she lost everything. It simply is a sad tale to tell, to watch someone you revere, someone you love, someone who gave you your life and everything in that life that you know and understand, to watch that person disappear before your very eyes is a devastating experience. So when folks say, ‘Why are you doing this Alzheimer’s thing?’ It’s because she cared about me and I care about her, and I don’t want your family to suffer what I have suffered.

“Others can tell you similar stories. The only thing they have in common is that they’re ugly. They all end the same way. None of them ends with a cure. None of them end with a happy ending. It’s an ugly, ugly disease.”

Burns, however, was rallying the troops.

“We collectively are here to put a stop to that,” he continued. “I don’t want my granddaughter to have it. I don’t want her husband to have it. I don’t want your niece to have it. I don’t want you to have it. I want it to stop, and the only way we’re going to get it to stop is to come together, focus on it and attack it frontally. We can’t look the other way. We have to look it in the eye and say, ‘You’re going down.’ I’m going to raise the money. I’m going to draw the attention. I’m going to give the speech. I’m going to do whatever has to be done until there is no such thing as Alzheimer’s. It’s been done before, and it can be done again.”

Stories about the upcoming Walks to End Alzheimer’s in both Washington and Greene counties will appear in the Sunday, Aug. 31, editions of the Observer-Reporter.