Alzheimer's Memory Walk 9/29/2007

[LynnCombs]

Request from Tammi Jewell at the Commonwealth Games office in Roanoke.


The sympathy cards that arrived at my house shortly after Christmas last
year referred many times to “memories.” My grandmother had lost her battle
with Alzheimer’s a few days before Christmas. It was ironic, I thought,
that so many of my wonderful friends and family members supported me through
their memories of my grandmother while she left this world with none.

In one way or another the past 10 years of my life have involved Alzheimer’s
and Alzheimer’s issues. The statistics in no way reflect what this disease
can do to individuals but here they are:

· Every 72 seconds someone is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
· More than 33,000 people in our part of Virginia suffer from the disease.
· Four years from now, the first baby boomers will reach 65. One in eight
will develop Alzheimer’s.

Some people who deal with this disease never look back after the loved one
is gone. I can’t do that. I collect truckloads of material for yard sales
and volunteer my time for Alzheimer’s support. And I write checks. I’m
asking you to do that now because we can fix this. With the support for
research that this disease takes, we are developing testing and drugs that
can prolong its onset if not prevent it altogether. Or we can do nothing
and face a bankrupt healthcare system, because that is what it is going to
do to us.

I’m participating once again in the annual Alzheimer’s Memory Walk and I’m
asking you to sponsor me. If you sponsored me last year thank you so much.
If you can, please increase your sponsorship this year. If you’ve never
given to Alzheimer’s this is a good time to start. You can mail your
contribution to me. It is tax deductible.

When I walk around the beautiful Hollins College campus for my grandmother
the last Saturday of this month, the money you have pledged to me will make
me lighter on my feet.

Within us we have the power to curb the hell that is Alzheimer’s. Let’s
save a memory together. Thank you.

Tammi Jewell
7384 Grassy Hill Road
Boones Mill VA 24065
540-420-2903