My running has progressed pretty quickly over the last year,
from a few miles here and there to a half-marathon in May and now the New York
City Marathon in less than two months. When I decided to run the marathon
I wanted to run for a cause that had particular meaning to me; I found that in
the Alzheimer's Association.
My grandfather, Frank Newell, suffered from Alzheimer's in the
early to mid 1990's. Unfortunately, most of the lasting memories I have
of Grandpa are from when he was in the later stages of the disease. One
clear memory I have is an afternoon when we were sitting at the kitchen table
together having lunch. My mom had made Grandpa a grilled cheese and given
him a glass of beer. After having a few bites of the sandwich, rather
than putting it back onto his plate, he put it into the glass of beer. As
a ten year old I found this funny, but as incidents like this became more and
more common I began to realize something was really wrong. As Grandpa's
condition worsened my mom, aunt and uncle were faced with the stress of finding
proper care as they watched their father become a shell of his former self.
Alzheimer's impacts many people in many different ways. From my
point of view, it deprived me of the chance to get to know the incredible
person that many others knew--the loving husband, caring father and great
friend.
I
have met a lot of great people on the team over the last few months. Most
of their experiences with Alzheimer's are much more recent than mine. Not
only will I be running 26.2 miles in memory of my Grandpa; I will also be
running for them.
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