Walk to End Alzheimer’s gathers 100 in Port Angeles to speed cure

PORT ANGELES — About 100 people walked through downtown Port Angeles on Sunday, raising money with the hope of finding a cure for Alzheimer’s disease.

Among those who participated in the Walk to End Alzheimer’s was Cindy Sofie, who said she was representing two friends diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and her mother, who passed away from the disease.

“Alzheimer’s is so cruel in the fact that your body functions well, but your mind is just not able to remember things,” she said.

She said there’s occasionally bittersweet moments when “there’s that little window where the person you love peeks back out,” before not remembering again.

Before the walk began participants were given Promise Garden flowers, with each color representing a different connection to the disease.

Sofie grabbed yellow and purple flowers, showing her connection to the disease.

Blue represents a person with Alzheimer’s or dementia. Purple is for a person who has lost a loved one to the disease. Yellow represents someone who is currently supporting or caring for a person with Alzheimer’s. Orange is for everyone who supports the vision of a world without Alzheimer’s.

A new color this year is white. That color represents the hope for the first survivor of Alzheimer’s.

The goal of the walk was to raise $26,000 for the Alzheimer’s Association, said Mardell Xavier, event chair.

As of Sunday, $14,695 had been raised between 86 participants and 17 teams, though Xavier said money donated at the walk has yet to be counted.

“We’re hoping to get three-quarters of the way to our goal,” she said. “We won’t have a final tally for a few days.”

Top fundraising teams are Team PA, $2,110; Bob and Pat Le Roy, $2,000; Soroptimist of Port Angeles, $1,214; Team Brady, $1,016; and Fit for Life, $735.

Like many who attended the event, Xavier also has been affected by the disease.

Her mother had Alzheimer’s for the last eight years of her life. When Xavier’s family moved to Port Angeles she joined an Alzheimer’s caregiver support group and became a co-facilitator in 2003.

“This particular illness affects a lot of people,” she said. “There are families struggling to take care of loved ones.

“Sometimes they can’t get away to come to a walk like this because they have no one to stay with their loved ones.”

This year, about 110,000 people in Washington have Alzheimer’s. That number is expected to grow to 140,000 by 2025, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.

“Sadly there is no cure,” Xavier said. “As baby boomers reach the ages when it’s more common, we’re going to have a balloon in the numbers in the not too distant future.”

Sunday’s walk was the first Walk to End Alzheimer’s in Port Angeles, she said. In recent years there have been walks in Sequim.

The walk this year was one of 16 in the state and part of a national effort to raise funds for the Alzheimer’s Association.

For more information, visit Alz.org or AlzWa.org.

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Reporter Jesse Major can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at jmajor@peninsuladailynews.com.