Page 117 - Coffee County

When Papa was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease eight years ago, our family was unfamiliar with the disease. We all knew life would change, but we were unaware of the changes that would occur within the next few years. Life went on as normal and Papa continued to live a normal life—working, driving, feeding his cows and watching baseball. It seemed as if the disease was an illusion and, even though we knew he had been diagnosed with the disease, we all seemed to push it to the back of our minds.

Over a year ago, Papa woke up and was suddenly a different person. His body no longer distinguished the difference between night and day.

“Let’s go,” he’d say over and over. We’d get in the truck and ride for hours, always stopping through the Dairy Queen drive-through.

Our family spent all summer chasing after him and laughing just to get through the heartache. Then, one day, he stopped. He stopped walking. He stopped talking. He stopped being able to live a normal life. Our family was unaware of how the disease was slowly stealing our Papa. One day everything changed and no one knew exactly what to do. There was no way to know the exact day the disease would worsen. There

This year from September 10-24th, the Alzheimer’s Association is hosting “Connecting Counties for the Cure.” This is a kick-off event for the “Walk to End Alzheimer’s™” (a rebrand of Memory Walk) that will cover 800 miles and visit all 35 counties in the Southwest Georgia District. A torch will be passed from county to county and each county will be responsible for passing the torch to the next county line. The torch will pass through and make a stop in Coffee County on September 11th before being passed to Atkinson County.