Many who stepped up for Sunday’s annual Walk for Alzheimer’s were there for others.
“My son, my dog and I thought we would come out and support the cause for my mother and grandmother,” said Barrie’s Richard Moran, at Simcoe County Museum in Midhurst with Henry Peter, who will be two years old in July and Milli, the berna-doodle.
Moran said his grandmother had Alzheimer's disease and his mother helped organize Sunday’s walk.
The 25th anniversary walk had about 400 participants and a goal of raising $100,000.
Jordan Clarke of Barrie was there for her grandmother Lynn, who was 93 when she passed.
Her group is called Finding Lynn and this is Clarke’s eighth year attending the walk.
She raised $700 for the cause this year, her group a total of $1,000, but Clarke said there’s another important aspect to the walk.
“There is really a lot of good information if people are unaware (of Alzheimer’s),” she said, holding onto golden retrievers Dolly and Reminton.
Agnes Hunter of Angus donated $100 to the cause, saying her mother passed away at age 95.
“I started walking last year,” said Hunter, who retired in 2019. “My sister got me involved, for my mother. I’m doing this for them.”
The Walk for Alzheimer’s asked participants to walk 11,000 steps for the more than 11,000 people living with dementia in Simcoe County.
Alzheimer’s disease is a chronic, neurodegenerative disease that destroys brain cells, causing thinking ability and memory to deteriorate over time, according to the Alzheimer Society of Canada.
It is not a normal part of aging, and is irreversible, the Alzheimer Society of Canada says.
For more information, visit alzheimer.ca/en.
