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The place I work, Oakwood Village, actively supports two walk/runs to support the effort to fight Alzheimer's and help those suffering with it and assist their caregivers.
Yesterday was a great day - sunny and in the upper 50s at the start of the 5K.
Beside the professional connection and concern for those suffering with Alzheimer's and Dementia - there is a personal tie as well. Both of my grandmothers suffered with Alzheimers.
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Grandma Schempp is best described as formidable. She worked in a Peoria, Illinois hospital in food service - taking up that job after my mom's family moved to Peoria from northwest Minnesota. She was kind, but very firm. My primary memories of her are the wonderful baked goods she would make for dinners and special occasions.She would make several dozen of her famous cinnamon rolls - because between my mom's brother, my dad, and me - two dozen just wouldn't be enough. The home-made bread she prepared for daily use was equally delicious. She would surprise with a smile sometimes - but was a quiet German farm wife all of her days.
Her battle with Alzheimer's lasted years - spending the end of her life sharing a nursing home room with Granpda Schempp. I remember being struck by the cruelty of the disease. For family, their loved one dies twice - the first time when the curtain closes over life time memories and recognition that is just occasionally lifted.
Grandma Mossner didn't work until after Grandpa retired from Caterpillar in Peoria. Then, they both worked a variety of full-time jobs - I used to go spend a week or two with them each summer when they worked for Tazewell Publishing delivering papers and publications to businesses and carriers around central Illinois. She was my model of what a sports fan looked like. During baseball season I would see with an ear plug in her ear and plugged into the transistor radio to pick up each inning of the St. Louis Cardinals. In the winter, she would watch or listen to each basketball game of the Bradley Braves (where my uncle graduated).
She was active into her 80s. But after her husband died, she went rapidly downhill. We were home the night of his funeral with everybody in the home where I grew up - and that night was the first time Alzheimers frightened me. After everyone had gone to bed, all of sudden there were screams down the hall. Grandma's brain was telling her that her husband was alive and in another bedroom with someone else. It was my parents, but it was a very rough night. My mom came to our room where we were shocked and concerned and told us to take my young sister and head out to a motel so we could sleep while they sat with Grandma.
I was with my Dad when the curtain rose for Grandma briefly. It was after Matthew was born and we took him to the nursing home where she lived. We placed Matt in her arms and she smiled. Dad said it was the first time in a couple years he had seen her smile. Now, we don't know who she may have thought Matthew was - but it's my final real memory of Grandma. What pained my Dad so much was that she was aware her memory was leaving her - leaving her frustrated and upset.
Dad was concerned about suffering from Alzheimers as he got older. He looked into early methods to offset the unpredictable disease. His sudden death last year while volunteering and still working full-time was a tragic sudden loss, but I appreciated the Lord keeping his mind in good working order as long as he had need of it.
The cap I wore was one we gave him for Christmas years ago. Dad wore it often and it was for him and my grandmothers that I wore it on my three mile run... thinking of the three while pounding the pavement and the gentle hills around Madison's Warner Park. I finished in 27:40, the best time I've had in a 5K since I started running again.
Here's hoping that soon Alzheimer's and other dementia is just a memory itself and this run/walk can be a celebration!
Be well!
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