“When I actually get to Walk4ALZ on that early October morning, my heart fills with gratitude and joy to be surrounded by so many of my fellow warriors in the battle. I remember my why.”
How Mimi’s Marchers Began
Mimi’s Marchers is coming up on nearly 10 years as a Walk4ALZ team, and it first started with their captain, Leslie Kilpatrick. When her mother, Mimi, was formally diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, Leslie and her sister Susan met with one of our dementia experts and Clinical Services director. We were able to assist them with “referrals to expert doctors, attorneys and advocates.” During this time, Leslie also joined one of our support groups to help her talk through this situation with other people in similar circumstances.
As a former board member, as well as a current member of our Community Advisory Council, she’s been dedicated to helping this community for a long time. Regarding when she started the team, she says, “my hope was to raise money and awareness as we coped with our own personal experience of the suffering that surrounds this fatal illness.” She appreciates that Walk4ALZ brings the community together “in a way that is reassuring and gratifying.” She knows that dealing with everything that comes dementia can be a lonely path – many of Mimi’s friends were struck by fear and sadness, so it was left to Leslie and her sisters to “stand by her, love her and be there for her to the end.” One of the reasons that Leslie values Alzheimer’s San Diego is because she believes that with increased education and advocacy, people can do better by families impacted by the disease.
What Walk4ALZ Means
Before Leslie retired from her real estate career a few years ago, she had become “quite well known within [her] business and real estate community for [her] willingness to talk openly and passionately about Alzheimer’s disease.” She notes that at times she feels hesitant about continuing her Walk4ALZ team, since her current network isn’t what it was before she retired. Leslie says that for this reason it’s also difficult to raise large sums and keep up with the bigger teams. Then every few months, she’ll “get a call out of the blue from a former client, colleague or an old friend who has just had a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s in their family.” After situations like this happen, it reminds her why she started Mimi’s Marchers, and she’s fully invested once again. “I am so lucky to have not just empathy and compassion but the knowledge and access to resources to help them navigate this unwanted heartache.”
For those thinking of attending Walk4ALZ for the first time, Leslie says “just do it… you will be so glad to know the power of this community.” Every team walks for the people they love, as well people who are in or have been in similar situations. Some teams also have unique ways to honor those people. Mimi’s Marchers makes a special team bandana each year to represent a different aspect of Mimi’s life, and they enjoy “sharing the ‘real her’ in some small way with the world.”
Leslie also leaves a message for people currently living through the dementia journey: “One thing I would love to have you know if you are going through this now and towards the stages where your loved one no longer knows you, they are still there in your heart. I worried that after eight years of the disease, I would only remember my mother in that sad way. It’s not true. She is back in my memories, in my dreams and in my heart as her vibrant, sassy, smart and funny self.”
Help Mimi’s Marchers reach their fundraising goal by donating to their Walk page. To sign up (& create a team if you’d like), view our Walk4ALZ website and get ready for the march through Balboa Park on Saturday, October 21st! View all of our free services and programs here.
By Braulio Ambriz
