Spotlight: Antonia Strom

Each week we will be picking members to spotlight to tell their Alzheimer's story and why they are running in this year's New York City marathon. Check in each day for new updates on who will be spotlighted and get to know your teammates...(each person is picked at random)

My grandmother passed away almost two years ago now after suffering from Alzheimers/senile dementia for over 10 years and she was the most hilarious person I’ve ever known, a true personality.  I can’t tell you how many expressions and songs she had for every occasion, but remembering them helps show truly what a unique person she was.  Some of the best ones are:  When my siblings and  used to fight as kids she would sing about the League of Nations being friendly to one another which was why we should be, when we were upset or sad she would tie two invincible knots to the side of her lips and pull an invisible string up over each ear until she was smiling, when we then started laughing again but became worried other people would see our poofy eyes she would say, “don’t worry about it, just walk quickly and look happy and no one will ever notice”…somehow she always had way of making every situation more fun.  My family and I lived abroad and only made it back to Sweden to see her once a year. So every year we would come back after her diagnosis was a shock, and a real eye opener as to how the illness was taking away the spirit that defined her personality. The “fun” that she had always added to every moment was slowly disappearing and soon she lost her ability to speak. 

I think mankind has shown an incredible instinct and ability to continue fighting through all kinds of tremendous physical pain because of the power of the mind…so what happens when the mind is what is deteriorating and a person you once knew is standing in front of you, but really not there? I would love to live in a world where someone’s spirit, what makes them who they are, is not taken from them by some horrible disease, and that is why I am running for Athletes to End Alzheimers.

My family often brings up my grandmother’s expressions and I sometimes find myself singing one of her songs to myself.  The fun she always brought to every moment is still alive in all of us and is what has really carried me through my training for this, my first ever, marathon.  I think of her and I remember to have fun, and to tie those invisible knots on the side of my mouth and tuck them behind my ears at mile 20 when I think I’m too exhausted to continue J  I will be running (and not walking J ) quickly and looking happy on November 3^rd as I run this marathon for the Alzheimers Association on behalf of my grandmother, Ingrid.