An Alzheimer's Pilgrimage for Nancy

My name is Amy Brummit and my Mom, Nancy Patton, has Alzheimer's disease. She was diagnosed in the Spring of 2018 and for the past 2 years, she has needed 24/7 care.

To raise vital awareness and money for Alzheimer's, I’m walking 500 miles in my 50th year of life. Beginning mid-May, I’ll spend 4-6 weeks walking El Camino de Santiago in Spain – an ancient pilgrimage dating back to the 8th century and what has today become one of the world’s most renowned pilgrimages.   

My goal is to raise at least $25,000 to go towards critical research needed for this disease, the local Alzheimer's Resource Services, and/or establishing my own Alzheimer's education non-profit. 

Alzheimer’s is the 6th leading cause of death nationwide, and yet those who are not affected by it know so little. 

An Alzheimer’s diagnosis is essentially a diagnosis of cognitive confusion and social isolation. Most people think it solely has to do with memory. That is far from being the whole picture.

In the United States, 5.7 million people suffer from this horrific disease. Researchers are predicting that by 2050, there will be an estimated 13.8 million suffering from this disease. There is no cure. There is no “getting better.” It’s a progressive disease that worsens over time. It’s a gradual deterioration of a lifetime’s worth of wisdom, experience and personal relationships. It steals memory, personality, the mind itself.

Tragedy can be a daily reality - for those with the disease, as well as the caregivers. There are immense cognitive struggles, from memory loss to confused thinking that impair day-to-day life. They lose the ability to plan, reason, coordinate, write – many, many functions not related to memory. There is a loss of certain skills that were once a matter of routine. My mother no longer knows how to buckle or unbuckle her seatbelt, how to open a container, how to push in a chair, how to dial a phone, how to put her shirt on the right way after being told it’s backwards, how to dress for the weather, how to turn on the faucet.

We desperately need to raise awareness for this disease. We need to advocate for those living with the disease and their caregivers. We must shine a light on it, educate, and learn. The public needs to understand how to interact with people who have Alzheimer's or Dementia. Lastly, we need to secure the funding for vital research for a disease that we know so little about. 

You can pledge a lump sum or a set amount for every mile walked. Thank you with all my heart for your support. Please know every penny will go towards Alzheimer's. And every step I walk will be for my Mom.