Meredith May's Walk to End Alzheimer's Page

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Dorothy Price was an amazing presence in my life. She's my maternal grandmother. I'm her only grandchild. She grew up in Wells, TX and was extremely smart. She worked in a doctor's office where she was encouraged to pursue higher education in medicine. Instead, she fell in love and became an Air Force wife and raised my mom and my uncle. When my grandfather retired in the 1970s, they moved home to East Texas.
I had a pretty idyllic childhood thanks to my grandmother. She was a constant even through the worst moments: losing her parents, including her mother to Alzheimer's, watching my uncle die a brutal and awful death from cancer, and taking care of and eventually placing her mother-in-law and aunt-in-law in homes.
Then there was a moment. I had just finished my BA and something happened that was very upsetting. I went to her house for complaining and comfort. But there was something just not quite right in her responses. She said the right things but was repetitive. It felt wrong. I knew then. I couldn't voice it, and she wasn't officially diagnosed until almost three years later, but I knew.
Eventually she had to be in a home for Alzheimer's, like her mother before her. In July of 2018 she died from heart disease. I suppose I'm lucky, because she still recognized me before the end. She knew that during her time in the home, her husband died. We didn't have to deal with the questions and confusion that so many others deal with. It was still horribly unfair. It's just not fair.

I walk to raise money for research, so that no else in the future has to go through what we did. I walk to raise money for advocacy, so that the government remains aware that this is a problem affecting millions and provides the federal funding necessary for this fight.

Nothing can stop the inevitability that we are all here for a short time. Alzheimer's didn't kill my grandmother. But Alzheimer's stole time that I can never ever get back. We don't fight against the natural end of life. We fight for quality in the time that we are given. That is stolen from too many families.

Join me and fight.

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Kilgore College

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2023 Walk to End Alzheimer's - Longview
Saturday, October 14, 2023

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Meredith May

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The mission of the Alzheimer's Association is to lead the way to end Alzheimer's and all other dementia — by accelerating global research, driving risk reduction and early detection, and maximizing quality care and support. Learn More.