Area family uses 50th anniversary to gather donations for Alzheimer's

The 50th anniversary generated more than $8,000.
By KATIE LIBECCO
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
STRUTHERS -- Forgoing a party, Margaret and Dan Becker celebrated their 50th anniversary last summer by helping to raise more than $8,000 for the University Memory and Aging Center in Cleveland to help fund Alzheimer's disease research.
The couple began working with the University Memory and Aging Center in Cleveland several years ago, when Margaret began having memory problems.
"I really became a believer in what they're doing," Dan Becker said.
He said their children arranged for the donations to be made on behalf of their parents' support of the University Memory and Aging Center.
"Our 50th anniversary was coming and I said that I didn't want a party. I wanted something strictly family," Dan Becker said. "But our children -- we have five -- unbeknownst to us, wrote up a letter. It asked for photos for a DVD and an album of our married life."
Dan Becker said their children found the names and addresses of friends and family members. The letter, including a picture from the Beckers' second date, also asked friends to make a donation to the University Memory and Aging Center.
Kathy Shaw, center community relations manager, said the couple's 50th anniversary, which was Aug. 5, 2005, has generated $8,275 through 56 donations.
Trouble with her memory
Becker said his wife began having memory trouble began about seven years ago.
"When my wife started having memory trouble, I had Alzheimer's in the back of my mind. I kept taking her to various doctors, but we weren't getting answers," Dan Becker said.
Semiretired, Dan Becker is a funeral director and owner of Davidson-Becker Funeral Home in Struthers and Cunningham-Becker in Poland and Lowellville.
Becker said he found the answer he had been looking for at a funeral directors' convention, where the Alzheimer's associations had information available on programs and treatments.
"I asked them if I could bring my wife to New York to participate in some of these experimental programs and research, and they said, 'You know, there's a place in your back yard,'" Dan Becker said. "I never knew about the University Memory and Aging Center," which is a collaboration between Case Western Reserve University and the University Hospitals of Cleveland.
He said he and his wife volunteered to do "everything that came along, especially after this last treatment that was a medication." He said they weren't sure if the medication was a placebo.
Joined in study
For 18 months, the couple went to Cleveland every three months to participate in a clinical study. While Margaret was evaluated by doctors, Dan said caseworkers worked with him to develop a case history.
"It was grueling, but you felt good about it in the afternoon," he said.
Shaw said the center has had more than 2,500 people participate in studies to research Alzheimer's disease.
XFor more information, visit the University Memory and Aging Center's Web site at www.memoryandagingcenter.org.