September 26, 2001
Memory walk steps forward against disease
450 walkers comprising 27 teams take part in 12th annual Alzheimer's Walk
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
The 12th annual Alzheimer's Walk Saturday at the Grand Traverse County Civic Center was less about miles than about smiles.
Hugs, memories, support and hope were all themes that day, as 27 teams comprising nearly 450 walkers raised $50,000 for their efforts.
The teams gathered included people newly diagnosed with Alzheimer's, family members of current Alzheimer's patients and family member who have lost a loved one to Alzheimer's.
All were united by one goal: find a cure and stop the plague that is stealing the minds and souls of a generation.
"There is an analogy between Alzheimer's Disease and terrorism because you never know where or when it is going to strike," said Rita Melotti, honorary chairperson of the event before leading the walkers around the track. "Six thousand of our friends and neighbors in our region are affected by this and they are projecting 14 million Baby Boomers will be affected."
They were stunning numbers. But for the assembled, the face of Alzheimer's Disease is a personal one, not just a statistic.
The Dressel Team featured walkers Marilyn Dressel and her husband, his sister and her husband. The walkers were supported by eight other family members who helped raise money but did not walk. Together they raised $500 in memory of Dressel's father, Keith McConkey, who had Alzheimer's Disease and died in 1991.
In the intervening decade, the Dressels have seen a huge change in education and understanding about the disease and how it affects individuals and their families.
"It was not all that long ago that we went through the journey and disease without any information," said Dressel, a Traverse City resident. "We didn't know what it was."
Dressel now volunteers regularly with the Alzheimer's Association, serving as a listening ear on the help line and occasionally facilitating support group meetings. She is determined that other people with Alzheimer's disease and their families do not lack information or support because she remembers how isolated and afraid her family felt.
"Support groups are just so important," she added. "On the phones I am really there to help a caregiver unload. There's just too much there to unload on your children all the time."
The ignorance, misunderstanding and fear about Alzheimer's disease were alleviated for Jim and Kitty Hagen when President Ronald Reagan publicly announced his illness in 1994. His open discussion of the disease and appeal for support struck an immediate nerve in her home.
Kitty Hagen said her husband had recently been diagnosed and the former president's example inspired them both to be open with family and friends. While other people with Alzheimer's disease or their families fear they will be shunned if word gets out, the Hagens found extensive support from those they told.
They also set out to learn as much as they could about the disease, fighting fear and uncertainty with information.
The uncertainty of Alzheimer's often begins long before a diagnosis, when a family member begins acting differently and experiences personality changes, memory loss and confusion.
Looking back on the years before Jim's diagnosis, however, Kitty Hagen has the same conviction of many caregivers: Alzheimer's had been there for years.
"I knew something was wrong with him but I didn't know what," said the Traverse City resident. "I didn't even know what the word was at first."
Her husband died in March of 2000, two days before his 78th birthday. As is also common among families who lose a member to Alzheimer's, the loss began years before the death. Hagen had coped with her husband's changing personality, habits and even hallucinations as best she could.
"We don't grieve when they die, we grieve when you have to put them in a home," she said. "A caregiver's life is no bed of roses, they can use all the hope they can get."