Man walks steps of Common Pleas courthouse in Cape Girardeau to raise awareness of Alzheimer’s disease
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (KBSI) – Wednesday marked the first official day of summer and also a day to recognize Alzheimer’s Disease and those it impacts.
A man who is making his way through the state of Missouri to raise awareness about the disease that impacts his own mother.
“Today (Wednesday) I’ve done the stairs here from the court courthouse in the court of Common Pleas here all the way to the river and back,” said Mark Applegate.
He took part in the longest-day Alzheimer’s Association fundraiser. This is his third year participating.
Applegate says he takes part in the fundraiser to help honor his family members who have the disease, such as his mom, and to raise awareness.
“The longest day which is the second biggest Alzheimer’s Association fundraiser. For that event they encourage everyone to find something to do themselves as a fundraiser that would honor the person that they are losing or that they’ve lost already,” said Applegate.
For the longest-day fundraiser Applegate is traveling to a total of four locations in Missouri including Kansas City, St. Louis, Cape Girardeau and next up is Springfield.
He says he does a total of 36 hours of climbing stairs throughout the day.
Applegate says the most important thing is to raise awareness before others are affected by the disease.
“And they just have a deer in the headlights look,” said Applegate. “They don’t know what’s going on because it’s not something you’re used to seeing. I mean you might see it every once in a while on TV show but we just don’t talk about it very much. And it can be scary. It can be like people repeating themselves over and over and over or forgetting the most common things like if they were a mechanic for a job. They couldn’t remember which tool takes off a bolt or something you know.”
Applegate wants to remind everyone the best thing they can do to prevent Alzheimer’s Disease and other diseases in general, is to take care of his/her health.
“The things that are good for your heart, good for your brain too and the goal for everybody is to push it off or not have it at all because right now there’s not a cure but they’re getting close getting closer every day,” said Applegate.
