MERIDIAN — Hundreds of people joined the Walk to End Alzheimer's at Kleiner Park to fight back against this debilitating disease and raise money for a cure.
"We are walking for my father," Monica Calzon said. "It is very heartwarming and nice to see all the people here who do want to bring a stop to this."
All the participants had different reasons for attending the walk, but they all did it with one common goal in mind.
"I don’t want to see families go through this anymore," Alix Hilton, Walk to End Alzheimer's Manager said. "I want to see generations after me not have to deal with this disease in the way that we are."
"We want to do as much as we can to raise funds to help find a cure," Calzon said.
The Walk to End Alzheimer's is the largest fundraiser to raise money for awareness, research, care, and support for families dealing with this devastating disease.
"Those funds help to support programs, and education for Idahoans, and their families going through this devastating disease," Hilton said. "Overall the research is how we are going to find a cure for this so this event is so important."
Families picked flowers from the Promise Garden, there were four different colors, and each one represented their connection to the cause.
An orange flower represented an advocate of the cause, purple meant you've lost someone to the disease, yellow represents caregivers for people with the disease, and blue meant you have Alzheimer's or dementia.
"It is just so impactful, people love the flowers," Hilton said. "They write little messages on there like 'walking for you mom,' or 'caring for my dad.'"
There's also the white flower. The flower of hope, which represents the first survivor of Alzheimer's.
"Until that beautiful day happens, we can’t back down, we must not back down, we must continue what we have been doing," The MC said during the event. "And we must continue to lead the way because together we can end Alzheimer's."
"I am just happy that my dad can watch down on me and all the people supporting what he went through," Calzon said.
Fundraising goes through December 2021, to donate and help the fight to find a cure head to ALZ.org/walk.
