We’ve known each other for years, but Alzheimer’s disease brought us closer together. Each of us lost our husband to Alzheimer’s—one in 2002 and one in 2003.
Both of them were wonderful, thoughtful family men. Good daddies and grandpas. Thank God they didn’t know everything that was happening to them. That’s the only forgiving grace of this disease. You just have to realize that it’s not them you’re dealing with. It’s the disease.
Our guys suffered so many years with it, and we see more and more people coming to our support group whose loved ones are suffering. It’s so sad, but people come to help others cope.
We started our dinners, because we want to help find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease. That’s all there is to it!
Homemade chicken and noodles, salad, a roll, a brownie and half a peach. That’s the menu for 2008. We thought preparing for 400 was a lot, but this year we raised it to 500. That’s a lot of chicken to cook!
We just had the idea. After that, Ponca City got behind it. Some helped sell tickets and put up flyers. Others donated food. Local merchants gave money or donated items for door prizes. You can’t do any better than that.
A couple of years ago, Phyllis found information about the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation and Dr. Jordan Tang online. That very day there was an article about him in The Oklahoman.
We were so impressed with what he was doing that we decided to send all the proceeds from our dinners to OMRF. We just wish it could be more.
