I walk in honor/memory of my late grandma, Mary Lee (Francis) Herman. I was with her nearly every day after school and spent most of my childhood summers with her. She was one of the biggest influences on me becoming the person I am today. The onset of Alzheimer’s was in 1996 and my grandpa faithfully took care of her despite his rapidly declining health in the home she was familiar with. Eventually it became too much for him to give her the care she required and we made the tough decision to put her in a nursing home in 2001. My grandpa would spend most of his time with her in the facility and made sure he was there to feed her every meal. I would go see her on my lunch hour every day and my mom would go see her every night after work. When my grandpa passed my mom and I knew it was our turn to make sure she was taken care of. So I continued feeding her lunch everyday on my lunch hour and my mom was there feeding her dinner every night after work. We were still caretakers even though she was in a nursing home. It was absolutely exhausting and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat if necessary. Ive been asked why I went to see her every day when she didn’t know who I was and my reply was simple, “I knew who she was.” She passed away March 11, 2009.
Watching her turn into a shell of the person she had once been was heartbreaking and I don’t wish that on anybody. She was the captain of her high school basketball team, moved to Washington DC right after graduation, worked for the FBI, sold War Bonds and was dedicated to her church. She wasn’t your average grandma. She would rather play volleyball in the backyard as to knit in her living room and loved going to The Moose Lodge to eat popcorn. I miss her terribly but the truth is, we lost her long before her physical body left this earth. We need to make this disease go away.

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