Families raise funds, awareness at annual Alzheimer's Walk

BOARDMAN

Not long ago, Barry Claycomb went to his job as a machinist and, one accident later, was told not to return.

While operating a crane, he accidentally struck a toolbox with a piece of steel on the crane and tried to catch the box with his hands, which deemed him unsafe to continue working in that capacity.

Two months later, the Austintown man was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

“Our world just dropped from under us for a few months,” Claycomb’s wife, JoAnn, said after having participated in Saturday’s annual Alzheimer’s Association Memory Walk in Boardman Township Park.

The Claycombs were among those who took part in the one-mile walk around the park to increase awareness of Alzheimer’s and raise funds to provide support services to the estimated 20,000 residents of Mahoning, Columbiana and Trumbull counties who live with the progressive disease.

Hosting the event was the Alzheimer’s Association Greater East Ohio Area chapter, which serves 17 counties and has an office in Boardman.

For the comlete story, read Sunday's Vindicator or Vindy.com.