Why We Walk
October 21, 2023
“The Walk4ALZ ensures all of the services Alzheimer’s San Diego provides are 100% free, including dozens of support groups… The support group is needed,” Ms. Harris says, “and there are people out there that care and can help individuals and family members.”
To learn more about Naomi Rogers-Bea & why she walks click here
“Alzheimer’s will touch all of us in our lifetime, one way or another. A family member, a friend, a neighbor…the disease won’t go away without all of our help. I walk because I CAN! But it goes back over 20 years to when my mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in the late ’90s. She died in 2003. Then I lost my Aunt Carlene and Uncle Chuck to the disease in 2019 and 2021. Now I walk beside my close friend, Gloria, who is navigating her ‘new’ life now that her husband is drifting down the path of forgetting.”
“It’s nice to go to a place where I don’t have to explain why this is important. It’s empowering to be a part of a local organization that provides services to those who are living with the disease in 2020. I definitely believe in investing in a cure or research treatments, but it’s more personal to me…to speak in terms of real-time versus someday,” Marcea explains. “I see the value in our services that help provide the highest quality of life for those involved right now.”
To learn more about Marcea Lloyd & why she is passionate about the cause click here.
“When you go to the Balboa Park walk, and see the number of people that are there – all going through the same thing – it’s an amazing feeling….. Alzheimer’s San Diego has done so much in terms of giving to us and helping us. I walk because I’m going to honor my mother every single year one way or another,” he continues. “It’s not going to help my mom, but maybe it will help someone else. That’s what keeps me going.”
“The sense of fulfillment is so rewarding, just being given an opportunity to connect with others who may have known my father. I hear from people often who knew them and it brings them back to me just a little bit…It’s so rewarding to connect with others who have had to experience this in their lives. Sometimes a hug is a support we need to endure. I felt alone in many ways losing my dad, but Alzheimer’s San Diego became an important focus for me and lifted me up… someone else could relate to my experiences.”
To learn more about Randi Kolender Hock & why she walks click here
“We walk because it’s too important not to. We walk for those who can’t walk anymore, for those who need people like us to stand up for this cause and bring awareness, and because when we’re able to come together we can still walk and cross the finish line with my mom.”
