Part 1 - Miles
0.0-10.0: A Brooklyn Block Party on Aunt
Kate’s Behalf. The first part of the
marathon has to be dedicated to my Aunt Kate, not just because her battle with
Alzheimer’s served as my first introduced to the disease, but because she spent
many years of her life living in Brooklyn, the very borough we run through for
miles 2-13. During childhood family
gatherings, I always remember my Aunt Kate laughing, sharing stories, enjoying
the simpler aspects of life and jokingly planning “yard parties” with my
mom.
Aunt Kate first started exhibiting signs of Alzheimer’s
disease in my teenage years. It started
small at first with an inability to remember where she had put her purse or her
coat. However, as time passed, the
symptoms worsened, with periods where my Aunt would become convinced that her
mother (who had long ago passed away) was waiting for her somewhere or that she
needed to get to her job in the city. Aunt
Kate fought a >10-year battle with a disease that robbed us of her humor and
her memory. However, it was a battle
that also taught us the power of great faith.
Kate forgot an abundance of things over those 10 years, but through it
all, she could participate in Catholic mass, reciting prayers and singing hymns
from memory.
Part 2 – Miles
11.0-20.0: A Three Borough Tour for a
Man Who Loved to Travel. During the
second ten miles, you cover the greatest number of boroughs, hitting Queens,
Manhattan and the Bronx. My Granddad
would have appreciated that given his love of travel. Along with his wife, my Grandfather managed
to see 49 of the 50 states (only missing Oregon because his children were
afraid for them to travel in the immediate aftermath of September 11), as well as
several foreign countries.
During my early 20’s, my grandfather began to exhibit signs
of dementia, which many of us believe may have resulted from an
undiagnosed/untreated stroke. Slowly, a
man who had always been quick with a joke, a kind word, a helping hand, began
to withdraw and exhibit signs of confusion about people, places, and activities
that had previously been very central to his daily life. Given that I dealt with my Grandfather’s memory
at an older age, I was more cognizant of the numerous small “deaths” our family
endured with each little loss of his memory before his final passing on
September 30, 2011.
Over my last few months training for this marathon, my
thoughts have often returned to a concept raised during my Grandfather’s
funeral service:
“I intentionally included the last part of verse 31
of chapter 12 in the second reading which then included Paul’s famous love
chapter – all of chapter 13 of 1st Corinthians…“And I will show you
a still more perfect way.” (NRSV)…Paul then give us “a still more perfect way”
to live together – love…Love that is unconditional love, mature love, love that
does not lose patience, this love that does not keep a record of right and
wrongs, love that gives for the sake of the other asking nothing in return –
this is the more excellent way to live life together…In the years ahead, when I think of Jim Snarr…I will think of a man
who tried to live a more excellent way.” - Rev. James Utt
It requires a mature love to stay committed to your spouse
for nearly 64 years, as my grandfather did.
It requires patient love to allow your granddaughter to spend an entire
Christmas vacation roller-skating around the downstairs of you house because
she is just that excited about her new skates.
It further requires unconditional love (and humor) to see beauty in that
child wearing the exact same outfit everyday that Christmas (a jean skirt with
Tinkerbelle on it that he affectionately deemed the “Stinkerbelle” skirt). It requires a love that keeps no record of
rights and wrongs to find humor in your grandchildren sneaking around the house
“playing pranks.” And, it requires a
love that gives for the sake of others to serve your country in WWII and your
community as a member of numerous civic organizations, a volunteer for the
Winchester Memorial Hospital Follies, and an active member of Grace Evangelical
Lutheran Church.
Part 3 – Miles
21.0-26.2: The Fight to the Finish for a
Woman Who Taught us All a Little Something About Being a Fighter. From a doctor’s perspective, my
grandmother passed away April 2012 from her second battle with cancer. From my perspective, she died of a broken
heart, six months to the day she last saw my grandfather at the viewing we held
before his funeral service. So what does that have to do with the “Run
to Remember” cause? My grandparents
stood by each other for nearly 64 years of marriage, raising three children,
loving six grandchildren, traveling the world, and building a good life in
Winchester, VA. For the last 5+ years of
that marriage, my grandmother loved and cared for my grandfather daily as his
memory and health faltered, helping him maintain as much normalcy as possible
in his daily routine.
A few weeks ago, in a discussion about the marathon, an
acquaintance told me, “You run 20 miles, and
then you run the marathon.” I
have no doubt that the last 6.2 miles of the NYC marathon will ultimately prove
more a test of willpower than a test of physical fitness. It feels fitting to dedicate that final fight
to the finish to the woman who taught two generations of strong-willed, driven
women to fight for what they want. Those
final miles honor her for her first [victorious] fight against cancer years ago
and her fight to keep my grandfather out of assisted living and serve as his
primary caretaker for as long as physically possible.
I cannot wait to cross the finish line on November 4 in
honor of these three amazing family members and all of those who suffer from
the effects of Alzheimer’s.
