Alzheimer's: To Know or Not to Know?

I was priveleged to be a part of this organization on Saturday.

I will honestly admit that I don't do a lot of community service.

Scratch that...ANY community service...

(Unless you count church activity.)

But Matt's law firm deals with elderly clients whom often suffer from dimentia & Alzheimer's.

They sponsored a table at the walk along with a photo booth.

Matt & I got our lazy butts out of bed WAY earlier than normal on a Saturday

and manned that table.

We also offered sign-ups for an Alzheimer's clinical trial.

 

I was seriously dubious as to how many people would sign up for this.

I mean, clinical trials are kinda a big deal!

But I was SHOCKED at the willingness of our comunity!

Especially those whose family members had been affected by Alzheimer's;

they wanted to contribute as much as they could to furthering the reserach

and development of an Alzheimer's cure.

 

Many people told us their stories of how this horrible disease had affected them or their family members.

One women was blatantly against signing up for the trial b/c her father had had Alzheimer's,

and she confessed she would nevber want to know if she was prone to it.

I asked her sheepishly what her reason was for not wanting to participate in the trial.

She said, "After seeing what my father went through and how hard it was for my mother to care for him, I would never want to know if I was prone to Alzheimer's unless there was a cure for it."

My though before speaking with her was, "Why not help?

Why wouldn't you want to contribute to the research and furthering of brilliance?"

But her answer made sense.

What's the use of knowing if you can't do anything about it?

 

It's like the old couple on Grey's Anatomy...

She was diagnosed with a terminal illness.

She had 6 months to live.

She requested Grey not tell her husband.

When, in fact, Grey had already told her husband, but he had requested the same thing:

"Don't tell me wife. I don't want her to worry about me."

So, they went to Venice, their dream trip, 

all the while believing the other was in the dark regarding her impending death.

All that to say, I feel very proud of my community.

Of the people who showed up for the walk,

who donated to the walk,

who opened my eyes to the reality of this disease,

and who raise awareness for it daily.

I feel very honored to have been a part of it.

Our table at the Walk!

Reading up on the clinical trial...

Our cute photo booth pics!