Walkers raise thousands for Alzheimer's research in Glenview - Glenview Announcements

GLENVIEW — Adrienne Matthew stood near the finish line of the Alzheimer’s Walk at Gallery Park in Glenview the morning of Sept. 21. Matthew and her team of 12 wear purple T-shirts with the words “Bernie’s Buddies.”

“My father had Alzheimers,” said Matthew, a nurse who lives in Wilmette. “He was a lawyer, a very articulate man. As the disease progressed, he couldn’t talk, he couldn’t articulate.”

Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia, a decline in mental ability severe enough to impact daily life. According to the Alzheimer’s Association website, it starts with memory loss, difficulty performing tasks in a social or work setting, forgetting material that one has just read and increasing trouble with planning or organizing.

It tends to worsen over time. Later symptoms may include difficulty with numbers, forgetfulness of one’s personal history, becoming moody or withdrawn. Ultimately people with Alzheimer’s may forget the name of a spouse or caregiver, need help dressing, tend to wander off and get lost.

Those with Alzheimer’s live an average of eight years after being diagnosed.

Bernie’s Buddies raised more than $3,000 for the Alzheimer’s Walk. They were joined by at least 550 other people on a sunny Saturday who raised $85,000 by the day Sept. 20, said Patricia Reinsch, event organizer for the Alzheimer’s Association of Greater Chicago.

It’s a walk, not a race, and participants treat it as such. Some push children in strollers or an adult in a wheelchair. Others, such as Kyle Russo, carried small dogs.

“My grandmother died of Alzheimer’s last May,” said Russo, who managed to raise more than $2,000.

Both the parents of Linda Doran, a pricing manager from Burbank, Ill., had Alzheimer’s. Her father owned his own construction company.

“He was very good with numbers and figures,” Doran said. A while after being diagnosed, however, “he would look at a calendar and wonder why there were more Wednesdays than Thursdays.”

Her father died in July 2013 and her mother in 2007. Their team of family and friends raised under $1,000. That money will go for research, care and support of those with Alzheimer’s.

Eileen Ellefson, of Arlington Heights, a retired administrator with the Park Ridge Police, took part in the 3.8-mile walk for her daughter-in-law’s mother who was diagnosed two years ago.

“You have to make sure someone’s there with her,” Ellefson said.