Residents turn year’s longest day into fight against Alzheimer’s disease
PENN TWP — For two years, Sarah McGee devoted a portion of her life to caring for her elderly father, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2019.
After watching him battle against the degenerative condition for more than six years, he died earlier this month. But instead of being consumed by grief, McGee channeled some of her pain into purpose, determined to lend a helping hand to other families facing similar circumstances.
She and several other community members formed a team to participate in the Longest Day, a campaign that aims to raise both funds and awareness for the Alzheimer’s Association.
Appropriately dubbed “The Longest Hill on the Longest Day,” they elected to walk or run through a challenging 2.7-mile stretch of Smith Road as many times as physically possible within an 8-hour time frame on Friday, June 20.
“We’re out here to hopefully work toward prevention, better medications or a possible cure,” McGee said. “I don’t know what scientists can do, but (we are) just trying anything to make it better for, not only the people themselves that live with Alzheimer’s, but for the families. It’s a family issue.”
The group, which was organized by attorney Julie McCormick, raised $4,940 as of late Friday afternoon, mostly through word-of-mouth and social media outreach.
“I always tell our families that we’re dealing with that the Alzheimer’s and dementia journey is a marathon and not a sprint,” McCormick said. “So we have to be mindful of that, both for the person who is living with dementia or Alzheimer’s and also the family and the caregivers.”
McCormick said she knows all too well what families endure following a diagnosis for a disease with no known cure. Her grandfather dealt with dementia, spending the final two-and-a-half years of his life in a nursing home.
Through the work of her law firm and in her personal life, she has remained steadfast in embracing those seeking support.
“Locally, we don’t have a kind of central resource where people can go and find things out,” she said. “So that’s one of our goals here is to really make sure that we have resources available and make sure people know what their options are and how to better interact and care for their loved ones.”
Since Alzheimer’s disease is often referred to as the longest goodbye, The Longest Day initiative is typically held on or around the summer solstice, which is the longest day of the year in terms of sunlight.
Participants can choose their own activities — from sports and card games to baking and social events — to raise money for care, research and advocacy, according to the association’s website. The idea is to turn a day full of light into one full of purpose.
Having been through nearly a decade of what was a heart-wrenching experience at times, McGee said she’s grateful she had the opportunity to take care of her father and the ability to provide hope for others.
“My dad and I talked pretty early on and he told me what his wishes were,” she said. “He didn’t want to go to a home, so I told him I would take care of him for as long as I could keep him safe. And then when that time would come, I’d have to put him in a home, but that I would make sure he wasn’t alone. Thankfully, we were able to do that.”
