Friends and Family,

Our family's story: https://youtu.be/PGqK7pzw69s

As many of you know, 3 years ago our mom, Nicole Holthuis, was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's. The 5 of us were shocked by this diagnosis, and to be honest, we were relatively uneducated on the disease. Naively, we assumed this could never happen to our family. She got her f***ing PhD in science education weeks after giving birth; Dr. Nicole Holthuis that is. She never missed a birthday, a cross country race, or a school event for any of us. She cooked us dinner every night, played the role of the "book fairy" every June, and mediated each and every clothing-related fight we had, all while balancing her career at Stanford. She was also relatively young when she was diagnosed, at 55 years old. Because of this, we were led to believe that there was no way her lapses in memory and a few lost credit cards were due to Alzheimer's. Our dad, knowing her the best, recommended she get a few tests done and we were met with a day that changed our lives forever. 

As many of you also know, the Inamine-Holthuis family loves a good run. Our love for running began on Mt. Diablo, but is now fostered by the beaches of Marseille, the paths of Central Park, and the streets of Paris. Nonetheless, our family has always turned to running to bring us together, and on November 3rd, the 3 of us girls will be running the New York City Marathon to support our mom and raise money for the Alzheimer's Association. The Alzheimer's Association has provided our family with more resources and support than we could have ever imagined as we navigate this journey and it is our turn to give back to them.

There are 3 ways we are asking for your help. First, please educate yourself and those closest to you on this disease. The warning signs can be so obvious, yet so overlooked. Heck, we thought it was menopause and long covid for way too long. In March of this year, the Alzheimer's Association made a video spotlighting our family's story to spread awareness about this disease, which we have linked below. Second, if you find yourself in New York City in early November, we could use some words of encouragement as we run through the 5 boroughs (added plus is you'll get to see our parents revert to their cross country parent days screaming "go sweetie go!" to their 20-something year old daughters.) And no, we will not be racing against each other, no one wants to see the Inamine sisters fight. We will be crossing that finish line hand in hand, as the best friends that our parents raised us to be. Last but not least, we would greatly appreciate any donation to our fundraising page, whether big or small. We hope with the help of our fundraising, we can spread awareness about this disease and find a cure.