Doctors diagnosed Bernie Buckley’s mother, Joan Buckley, with Alzheimer’s disease in 2002 when she lived in Cleveland.
His father had died, and Buckley, a Frederick County resident, began driving to take care of her, splitting time with his four siblings. She exhibited strange behavior, such as sitting on the floor all night in confusion. She was unable to cook or clean or take care of her finances. She eventually went to a nursing home and finally to a ward. In 2005, she died.
“It was an exhausting marathon of sadness,” he wrote on a personalized Web page associated with the Alzheimer’s Association.
Buckley plans to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania as part of the association’s “Longest Day” fundraising event to provide care for people suffering from dementia.
“I’m doing it to give back,” he said. The Alzheimer’s Association helped his family deal with his mother’s condition.
A lifetime fan of adventure and a world traveler who served in the Army and Army Reserve, Buckley said he’d been thinking of doing something to support the association since his mother’s death.
He contacted the local Alzheimer’s Association office. They told him about the “Longest Day” event, held each year on the Northern Hemisphere’s summer solstice. Participants spend daylight hours doing something they love or enjoy as they raise funds for the association.
Buckley said climbing Mount Kilimanjaro has been a lifelong goal.
He spends most of his days climbing up and down ladders and lifting heavy equipment — he’s in home repairs — and said that should be sufficient training to reach the peak of the highest mountain in Africa at more than 19,000 feet above sea level.
“I’ve never been more fit in all my life,” he said. “I’m ready to go.”
Buckley plans to start his climb June 15 and spend five days reaching the top.
“Although my journey will be difficult, it pales in comparison to the challenges caregivers and those living with Alzheimer’s face on a daily basis,” he wrote in his letter appealing to donors.
He’s also taking along some symbolic artifacts with him as he ascends the mountain.
He’s writing a list of names from donors and others who’ve dealt with Alzheimer’s, which he’ll then insert into an aluminum tube and bury on the mountain.
Buckley said he will also unfurl a banner with the names of businesses and donors once he reaches the summit.
So far, Buckley’s Longest Day team, dubbed Climb 4 Alzheimer’s, has raised more than $3,400, according to the Alzheimer’s Association website. Buckley himself is the fifth-highest on the association’s list of individual fundraisers for the event, raising roughly $3,180 so far.
He said his goal is to raise $5,000 before he leaves.
To see more about Buckley's team or to donate, visit https://thelongestday.alz.org/home/team/85603.
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