- April 25, 2024
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Walk Director Amanda Harris plants the drive-through Promise Garden at the DSC Flagler/Palm Coast Campus for the 2020 Walk to End Alzheimer's. Courtesy photo
Melissa Wos with her mother, Joyce. Courtesy photo
Melissa Wos, top, and Carrie Meyer get ready to walk in their neighborhood with their dogs at last year's virtual Walk To End Alzheimer's. Courtesy photo
For the second year in a row the Flagler and St. Johns counties’ Walk to End Alzheimer’s will be a virtual “Walk From Home” on Oct. 2.
“We’ve been planning it now probably since the beginning of March,” said Melissa Wos, who is a co-chair of the local Alzheimer’s Association event. “We had no intention of it being a virtual walk until a few weeks ago. But the delta variant was spiking horrifically in Flagler County.”
To participate in the Walk from Home or for more information, go to this website.
After last year’s virtual walk, the local volunteers wanted to return to the in-person event with participants gathering at the amphitheater at Daytona State College Flagler/Palm Coast campus.
“Normally people would go on stage and carry flowers,” Wos said. “Each color flower means something different. The event itself is really just camaraderie for folks dealing with Alzheimer’s. Either they have it themselves or they care for someone or they lost someone.”
According to the Alzheimer's Association, 6 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease. Additionally, more than 11 million family members are providing them with daily care. In Florida, there are more than 580,000 people living with Alzheimer's and 527,000 caregivers.
The walk will kick off with a pre-recorded opening ceremony at 9 a.m. that will include a speech from Sheriff Rick Staly.
Last year Wos walked with her wife, Carrie Meyer, and Wos’ mother, Joyce, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s eight and a half years ago. Joyce rode in a wheelchair. This year she is bedridden and in the last stages of the disease, Wos said.
“People just think it’s a disease where you lose your memory. That’s not what it usually looks like. It starts that way, but it doesn’t end that way,” Wos said.
Before Joyce was diagnosed, she started forgetting stories Wos had told her. She forgot the way to the grocery store. She had crying fits, and Wos couldn’t console her.
Her brain was shutting down, Wos said. She forgot how to feed herself, how to go to the bathroom by herself.
“A very high-functioning adult is now being spoon-fed by my wife, being turned so she doesn’t get bedsores,” Wos said. “That’s what happens with Alzheimer’s that a lot of people don’t see. It’s a very, very difficult journey for most families. That is why we walk as caregivers get together to say, ‘Yes, I understand,’ because most people don’t understand.”
The 2021 Walk to End Alzheimer’s in Flagler and St. Johns counties had raised $31,397 as of Sept. 28 with a goal of $48,000.
“The biggest thing we try to do is raise awareness,” Wos said. “Alzheimer’s is the sixth leading cause of death in the country and it has no cure and no treatment. People who are going to be caregivers need to know that they can get help.”
Each walker will receive a Promise Garden flower to be "planted" in their front yards. Blue flowers are for people living with Alzheimer's, purple for those who lost a friend or loved one to the disease, yellow for someone caring for someone with Alzheimer's and orange for those who are supporting the cause. Normally, the flowers would be planted in the Promise Garden at DSC.
The Alzheimer’s Association’s goal is to one day present someone a white flower. That will be the first survivor of Alzheimer’s, Wos said.
