Local mother and daughter team ‘Walk to End Alzheimer’s,’ and memories of my grandma, too
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I remember visiting my grandmother Elizabeth in the early 2000s when age had robbed her of most of her life’s memories and also stolen her ability to consistently recall what she had said even seconds earlier.
I’d often wonder, just before a visit, if she’d still know who I was. And I’d be relieved to see how I could still inspire a smile when first walking into the room.
By this time, I was a young adult. But I was frozen in time in her mind, still a school-aged kid. She’d cover her mouth and erupt in unintentional laughter, her big blue eyes shining with amusement, when I’d remind her how I was married — and eventually a new father.
It’s impossible (for me, anyway) to entirely avoid bringing personal experiences with you when interviewing people for articles. In fact, I think it’s usually an asset. So my late paternal grandmother resided at the forefront of my mind as I interviewed Pelham’s Lisa LoCascio and her mother Caroline LoCasci this past weekend to put human faces on a story about dementia, Alzheimer’s, and a local walk next month designed to raise awareness and funds to fight the disease.
When you start to research the toll Alzheimer’s and dementia exact on the world, you begin to realize just how deeply the dreaded disease impacts caretakers, not just the cared for.
The statistics are eye-popping.
For example, an estimated more than 11 million Americans provide unpaid care for people with Alzheimer’s, or other dementias, research shows. Just last year, these caregivers provided more than 16 billion hours of care valued at nearly $272 billion, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.
On Saturday, in working on the preview article for this year’s annual Westchester Walk to End Alzheimer’s, I got the chance to learn Lisa and Caroline’s story. Mother Caroline, 91, is one of an estimated six million Americans living with Alzheimer’s.
In case you missed our article, I’ll quickly share a touching anecdote Lisa mentioned to me, which I included at the top of the piece, to introduce the news of this year’s walk event:
Growing up in a poor Italian family in the Bronx, Lisa said that Caroline and her mom, dad, and eight siblings embraced FDR’s most famous quote as something of a family motto to fortify them when times were tough: “We have nothing to fear but fear itself,” they would say.
Many decades later, in the early 2000s, after raising a family in Westchester and following a successful career in fashion, including her own Larchmont boutique, Caroline began slipping into the disease.
The “rock” of her family, as Lisa called her, began showing signs. Confusion with the checkbook and hiding mistakes — both common signals. But it crystalized into clear focus for Lisa when Caroline forgot that her beloved older sister Anna had passed away about a month after she died.
Caroline resisted Lisa’s intervention at first. But secretly, she got herself checked, and her fears were confirmed: a clinical diagnosis of progressive dementia.
“Heartbroken,” Lisa recalls, “I embraced her and gently said, ‘As long as we have each other…right, mommy?’”
“We have nothing to fear but fear itself,” her mother replied.
In that moment, she remembered.
The mother and daughter team (both Pelham residents) plan to participate in the Walk to End Alzheimer’s on Sunday, Oct. 2, at Westchester Community College in Valhalla.
Caroline will be clutching a blue flower in honor of people living with dementia during the event’s opening ceremony. The Alzheimer’s Association ceremony features four flower holders, with each flower’s color representing a different relationship to the disease
I think it’s also important to emphasize how the increasing pool of older Americans means Alzheimer’s is only growing as an issue, making research and an eventual breakthrough more important than ever.
With the number of older Americans growing quickly, so will the amount of new and existing cases.
Unless there’s a medical breakthrough to prevent, slow, or cure it, the number of people age 65 and older with Alzheimer’s could grow to an estimated 12.7 million by 2050, the association projects.
If you’re looking for a way to support the cause, the Walk to End Alzheimer’s is an impactful annual event more than worthy of the area’s time and attention. Register here.
If you’d like to read the full Examiner newspaper article, click here.
Adam Stone is the publisher of Examiner Media. When not running local news outlets or chauffeuring his children, Stone can be found on the tennis courts at Mt. Kisco’s Leonard Park, on his Ipad playing chess, or on the floor cleaning after his two dogs.
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