Memory Walk hope for Alzheimer's patients

By Hugh Fisherhfisher@salisburypost.com

KANNAPOLIS — John Richard, of Salisbury, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease at age 48.

He was formerly a manager at a textile plant, his wife Robin said.

"He used to work with computers," she said, patting her husband's arm as he sat quietly by her side on a park bench.

"He could do anything to a car ... He's one of the smartest people I've ever known."

Today, at 51, he has lost his memory and independence.

And Robin, no longer able to care for him alone, had to place him in full-time care.

"Never did I think five years ago we'd be where we are today," Robin said.

But she and John, along with her sister Kandee Breedlove, were among 200 participants in Saturday's 2010 Memory Walk for the Alzheimer's Association.

"There is no cure for Alzheimer's, but there is hope," said Becca Carpenter, associate director of development for the Alzheimer's Association in Charlotte.

Saturday's event at the North Carolina Research Campus raised more than $16,000 for research and support programs, Carpenter said.

The walk took participants around Kannapolis' greenways and through the VillageFest street fair in Cannon Village.

Walkers ranged from children as young as 5 years old to older adults whose spouses are suffering from dementia, as well as some patients, like John Richard, whose presence showed the human impact of Alzheimer's.

They walked not only to raise money, but to raise awareness.

"People should get involved in this good cause," Martha Parrott said.

She came down from Salisbury as part of a team of more than 40 representing the Lutheran Home at Trinity Oaks.

Levonia Corry's father is an Alzheimer's patient who lives there.

She got her fellow members of Delta Sigma Theta sorority involved in the Memory Walk.

"People need to know about the devastation of this disease," Corry said.

Some of Saturday's participants also attended a seminar on dementia research Friday at the N.C. Research Campus.

Becky Norman, director of social services at Trinity Oaks, related this example of what it's like to have Alzheimer's, as presented there:

Raise our right foot. Keep standing on it. Now, raise your left foot.

Impossible, of course.

Norman said, people with dementia find it impossible to process information or recall memories.

"It's not there anymore," she said.

"We're all at risk," said Teresa Hoover, Alzheimer's Association program director.

"Nobody knows for sure why some get it and others don't."

Hoover's advice: Eat healthy foods, stay active and take care of your heart.

She hopes those who attended will take that advice and share it with others.

And Norman said she was going to share what she learned Friday with her nursing assistants, hoping they'll understand the fears and frustrations of people with dementia.

For John and Robin Richard, those fears and frustrations are a part of daily life.

She hopes a cure will be found so others don't have to suffer as her husband has.

"This is happening more and more," Robin said. "If people will step up and give more support and attention, there might be a cure."