For Hope Trumpie, Saturday’s Walk to End Alzheimer’s in Mount Airy can dredge up some painful memories.
But the annual event also is a chance for her to share her story, and hopefully spread the word that the Alzheimer’s Association has vital information and help for those dealing with the disease. And the walk serves to keep the disease front and center in the public consciousness to keep research dollars coming in.
The basic definition of Alzheimer’s, according to the Oxford Dictionary, is that it is a “progressive mental deterioration” which leads to degeneration of the brain — eventually leading to dementia and death.
For people such as Trumpie, it is also a cruel disease which steals a loved one, a little bit at a time, as their ability to drive, shop, do all the basics of taking care of one’s self erodes. At some point, those suffering from the disease will even lose the ability to remember life-long friends and family members.
Trumpie has had to watch three people close to her go through that process before eventually passing away: her mother, a close family friend who she helped care for, and her sister, although her sister died from Lewy Body disease, another form of dementia.
With her mother, Trumpie said there were no major sudden changes that caused great concern at first.
“They were just subtle changes that a lot of times you’d write off as someone…
