alzheimers news-we walked to end alzheimers disease

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-WE WALKED TO END ALZHEIMERS DISEASE

this was the 11th year that we have done the walk to end alzheimers walks
our first one was in austin in 2011
it was the first one we did and was the first one after i discontinued work
it was almost 10 months after my last day to work
there were a lot of former patients and former clinic folks and friends walking with us that day
we were the largest fundraiser for an individual team in the austin walk


this year
it was just my wife she and i 
we walked from our condo up to the santa barbara mission then through the keck memorial park back to our condo
it was a beautiful peaceful full of memories walk of about 3 miles

in that picture i was 40 lbs lighter after having what i think was covid
by the walk time last year i had gained 10 lbs from my low point 3 months earlier
i now weigh 10 lbs more than last year

we decided to not participate in the official walk due to the pandemic
statistically 30-40% of the walkers would be unvaxxed and many of the walkers were unmasked
we felt safer doing a separate our own walk that day
even though we are both triple vaxxed

i told the director we were doing this
others did the same that day also 
i also told her as the pandemic wains and when mr hudson gets all vaxxed up then i plan to become involved with the alzheimers association like i was prepandemic
hoping we can do the official walk next year

three of our past walks come to mind

the first one since it was the first after my diagnosis and many of the walkers on our team i had not seen in almost a year
it was probably our biggest fundraiser one and our biggest team number

our participation in this one led to a lot of contacts over the last 10 years that led to all my alzheimers presentations ive done in the last 10 years

another memorable one was the first one that we did for my younger brothers alzheimers walk team in little rock
i must say that this one was the most i have cried at any of the walks
the walk was in a beautiful location on the arkansas river

the other memorable one was the one we did here in santa barbara
ms b was there and as i was talking giving a short version of my story carrying the blue alzheimers flag
she yelled out
granddaddy 
i almost wasnt able to finish

as we walked i thought a lot about my mother and her journey with the disease and her sad ending
about my younger brothers diagnosis so young and his long journey with the disease

i thought a lot about my diagnosis and how i feel lucky to be here writing this and planning next years walk
when i did my first walk i wouldnt have ever dreamed i would still be able to do what i am doing today

the aduhelm (aducanumab) infusion study was not even on my radar
now
10 years later i have received 13 infusions of the real drug
there is a chance it will slow down the disease some

again
time will tell how well it works
it may be a few years before we know

youll know if it works if you read my blog in 5 years and in 10 years from now

thanks to those of you that have made donations to our team over the years and have supported us on our journey

so
it seems
theres hope for us in the alzheimers world

the organicgreen doctor