Alzheimer’s Memory Walk: Take vital steps in fight against disease

WE all like to take a trip down memory lane once in a while. But, over the next five weeks, thousands of people throughout the country will be taking a different kind of stroll one that could impact on the future of dementia.

Memory Walks is an initiative from Alzheimer Scotland to raise money and awareness of dementia, as the number of people with the illness in Scotland continues to rise.

Catherine Thomas, head of fundraising at the charity, told The Sunday Post the condition is the country’s “biggest health crisis”.

More than 90,000 people are currentlyliving with dementia in Scotland and tens of thousands of unpaid carers often partners and family members support them. Twenty-six Memory Walks are taking place across the country with the aim of raising funds to deliver support services and to heighten awareness of the discrimination and isolation felt by people living with dementia.

Catherine said: “We want people to be shouting loud and proud that they’re raising money and they care. The walks are part of demystifying dementia and showing that it’s just an illness and those with it can still play a part in the community.”

The first three walks take place in Milngavie, Oban and Clydebank and the initiative ends on October 4 in Glasgow.

The Sunday Post talked to two people taking part in Memory Walks who have watched a loved one suffering from dementia.Case Study 1: Willie Cooper, from Strathaven in South Lanarkshire, first noticed changes in his wife Frances when they came back from a holiday.“She didn’t want to go back to work and that was very unusual for her,” the 72-year-old explained.

“She suffered a loss of confidence and was having minor memory lapses.

“Things just weren’t quite right and she was sent for a brain scan, which revealed she had suffered several mini-strokes.”

Frances was diagnosed with vascular dementia in early 2004, aged just 60 and only months after she had retired from teaching.

“We’d made retirement plans but those changed,” continued Willie, who has two kids with Frances and five grandchildren.

“I had retired from my architect’s job in Glasgow, although I was still working from home and so I became her carer.

“Frances started to attend a group for early onset dementia and I went along to a service for relatives of people with dementia, where we discussed our problems and had the services that were available explained to us.

“I felt I wanted to get involved and give something back, which is one of the reasons I’m doing a Memory Walk. I was a marshal at last year’s event at Strathclyde Park and will take part again on September 19 and I’m also a volunteer at a dementia club in Stonehouse.”

Another reason Willie’s doing the walk is to raise awareness.

“Not long after Frances was diagnosed I noticed people shied away from her. Lots of acquaintances just didn’t want to know.

“People are scared of dementia.”

Frances slowly got worse. She had to stop driving in 2007 and was admitted to a care home in 2011.

“It was devastating watching it happen,” Willie reflected.

“You just don’t expect it, especially since she was a teacher and was always using her brain.”

Willie visits Frances every day to give her lunch or dinner.

“She can’t feed herself any longer and is confined to a chair.

“What she says is just gobbledygook, so I can’t have a conversation with her.

“I don’t even know if she recognises what we are saying.

“Her vision is also impaired and she only knows me by my voice.

“But I’ll continue to visit her every day.”Cast Study 2: SEEING her dad decline from dementia was an awful experience for Karin Menzies, from Prestonpans in East Lothian.~ Karin Menzies and her father,who died of Alzheimer’s disease.

Jim Knox passed away two years ago aged 77 after being diagnosed first with a brain disorder known as Korsakoff’s and later Alzheimer’s.

“He lived alone in a flat in Leith and when we visited him we noticed he was getting worse and worse,” Karin explained.

Pots would be left on the hob to burn, he would go shopping and then forget what he’d done with his messages, he’d fill his tea cup with cold water and he was forgetting to wash.

“The social work got involved and we had to place him in a home, which was a very difficult decision to make.

“It was when he was in the nursing home that he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

“He didn’t know what was happening so would get angry and then placid and couldn’t remember shouting a second earlier.

“He would call me by my oldest sister’s name, Angela, and reminisce about stories from our childhood.

“It was nice because he remembered but also hard.

“I just never knew what to expect he could be angry and upsetting and then other times he was brilliant.

“My husband, John, had a good relationship with Dad and they would talk about football a lot.”

Karin’s children, Siobhan and John, were young teenagers at the time and found it really hard seeing their grandpa, a former mechanic, like that towards the end. “It’s the person you have to try to remember and not the disease,” continued Karin, a teaching assistant.

“It’s their body but a different mind and you have to concentrate on the good times when you look back.”

Karin will take part in the Dalkeith leg on September 20 after seeing an advert for Memory Walk.

“I really hope we can raise awareness. “I’m also looking forward to meeting and chatting with people on the day and hearing their stories.”ALZHEIMER SCOTLAND hope at least 3,000 people will take part in the walks.“Memory Walks are international events and we’ve been doing them for a few years now, but last year was the first time we held them all over the country,” said Catherine.

“We have lots of families coming along, people who have experienced it with relatives, and people with dementia will be there, too.

“There are shorter walks for those with limited mobility and even if you don’t want to walk, you’ll still have a fun day.

“It’s really important the events are inclusive.”

Each walk will be between one and four miles and include family activities and memory walls for walkers to have the chance to honour loved ones.The charity’s Anna Devine said: “Dementia is a huge, growing health crisis.

“We must rally our caring and compassionate communities to be part of Memory Walks and embrace the message that dementia is everyone’s business.

“It costs Alzheimer Scotland millions every year to deliver vital services.

“To sustain that support as the demand for our services increases, we need to raise more funds and more awareness.”

All monies raised will be used to help pay for important services such as the 24-hour dementia helpline, advisers, nurses and research, as well as local activities including cafes and support groups. Registration is £10 for adults, £5 for 12 to 16-year-olds and free for under-12s, and participants are asked to raise £100 in sponsorship.For more info and to register, visit http://www.memorywalksscotland.org