43
Alzheimer’s Association Walk to End Alzheimer’s gathering
By Sean Barron
YOUNGSTOWN
Sherrin Stambaugh sadly recalled the type of lifestyle and personality her mother had before Alzheimer’s disease changed everything.
“She was a florist. She was fun-loving …” Stambaugh said, unable to hold back the tears and finish her sentence.
The Leetonia woman was referring to her mother, Lou Deffenbaugh, who was diagnosed with the irreversible and progressive form of dementia in 2000 at age 61.
Fourteen years later, Deffenbaugh is a resident at Blossom Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Salem and is in the advanced stages of the disease. As a result, she’s nonverbal and unable to recognize family members and loved ones.
Nevertheless, she was recognized and fondly remembered during Saturday’s annual Alzheimer’s Association Walk to End Alzheimer’s gathering that began in Youngstown State University’s Watson and Tressel Training Site.
At least 71 teams, as well as many individuals, took part in the walk around the campus to raise money and awareness for Alzheimer’s care, research and support, noted Helen Paes, the walk’s development coordinator.
The Walk to End Alzheimer’s is the country’s biggest event for those purposes, organizers said.
Stambaugh was one of about 20 members of “BuBu’s Bunch,” a team named after Deffenbaugh’s nickname.
“If I had to pick a second mother, it would be someone like her,” said Bobbie Billet, a longtime family friend and team member.
Also part of “BuBu’s Bunch” was Stambaugh’s sister, Sheila Kastner of Lisbon, who said that it’s vital to adjust and adapt to those with AD and accept who they are instead of trying to live in the past.
Many walkers remembered and honored loved ones with the disease by having formed teams such as “We Love Lucy,” “Team Gunny,” “Papa’s Pack,” “Dave’s Angels” and “Team Leona.”
Those with Alzheimer’s disease respond to their plight in vastly varying ways. Some become increasingly bitter, withdrawn and agitated while others such as Christopher King of Sebring try to maintain a sense of humor.
“Hopefully, my Alzheimer’s will loaf along. I’m for loafing,” said King, who spent 30 years as an eye surgeon in Alliance before being diagnosed in 2009.
King and his wife, Marilyn, also ran a bed and breakfast, along with a 68-acre tree farm, after he retired as a surgeon in 1995. Now the couple lives in Copeland Oaks Retirement Community, which offers all levels of care, including 24 private rooms for those with AD. In addition, living there has allowed Christopher to make many friends, he said.
Christopher King also is the local Alzheimer’s Association’s 2014 ambassador.
Joining the Kings for the walk were their grandchildren, Liam Boyce, 9, and Alyssa Boyce, 12, along with Debbie Reho, Copeland Oaks’ marketing and public-relations director.
“You would be hard-pressed to find somebody who doesn’t know or hasn’t been impacted by someone with Alzheimer’s disease,” observed Reho, whose mother, Rosemary Waldron, has AD and who also lost an uncle from the disease.
Before the walk got underway, Marybeth Jamieson spoke about the loss of her husband, Cliff, who died in May 2013 one day short of his 58th birthday.
“It seemed unimaginable that the love of my life would slowly slip away from me. Every day, his world was becoming smaller and smaller,” Jamieson said about Cliff, a longtime teacher and head football coach who was diagnosed in May 2008.
Cliff, a 1974 Girard High School graduate, was quick-witted and easygoing but slowly became more distracted and agitated. He also suffered frequent headaches, and by 2007, many previously simple tasks were overwhelmingly difficult, she continued.
The Jamieson family, of Struthers, also was recognized as the Alzheimer’s Association’s 2014 honorees.
An estimated 5.1 million Americans have the disease, and that figure could triple by 2015 unless a cure is found, noted Paes, the event’s coordinator.
“It doesn’t matter what you’ve done in life. Everybody’s at risk,” she said. “You have to be hopeful. We must continue the battle.”