Dorothy McLaurin’s 92-year-old mother suffers from Alzheimer’s. Her mother is among an estimated 5.4 million American who have the disease, including an estimated 53,000 Mississippians.
When McLaurin heard on an early morning Jackson newscast Thursday, Sept. 21, that there would be an Alzheimer’s Action Day at the state capitol at noon, she drove 72 miles from her home town of Louin, Miss. to partcipate. “I heard it about six or seven o’clock this morning, so I put on some purple and came,” she told The Mississippi Link. Purple is the national color in the fight against the disease.
“Every since my mother’s diagnosis, I’ve been trying to learn more about the disease. I hope they find a cure!” McLaurin stressed.
Although the Jackson turnout was low, those who participated in the national Action Day observance said they wanted to help raise awareness about the growing problem.
“[With] Alzheimer’s disease, we are where cancer was 30 years ago,” said Kathy Van Cleave of the Mississippi State Department of Health later in a news report. “We didn’t talk about cancer. We didn’t have a course of treatment. We didn’t know what to expect.”
The Jackson Walk to End Alzheimer’s will be held Oct. 1 at 9 a.m. at Renaissance at Colony Park. Walks are being held throughout the nation on various dates.
To register, visit http://www.alz.org/ms/
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