Woman bikes 150 miles to Ohiopyle for Alzheimer’s Association
Submitted
Dayna Brown of Bethel Park, left, and Lori Graham of Clintonville rode 150 miles to Ohiopyle recently to raise money and awareness for Alzheimer’s disease.
Submitted photo
Dayna Brown of Bethel Park, right, and Lori Graham of Clintonville spent a recent Saturday biking 150 miles to Ohiopyle to raise awareness for Alzheimer’s disease.
Dayna Brown is intimately familiar with the strenuous grind of Alzheimer’s and dementia, so she committed to a mission to replicate it.
The Bethel Park woman bicycled 150 miles from her home to Falls Market in Ohiopyle on June 25 to honor her mother who died from Alzheimer’s, her father who is living with dementia, and caregivers who take care of loved ones like hers. The bike ride was a part of The Longest Day, a fundraising and awareness event benefiting the Alzheimer’s Association.
“The reason I chose this distance is Alzheimers is difficult. I wanted my efforts to match the degree of difficulty when people are going through this disease,” she said.
Brown said she and her friend, Lori Graham of Clintonville in Venango County, made the trek in 14.5 hours, leaving at 6 a.m. and arriving at 8:33 p.m. The annual event is scheduled around the summer solstice.
“We took advantage of every bit of daylight to get through our ride,” she said.
This was Brown’s fifth ride for The Longest Day. Her mother died in 2017, and her father was recently diagnosed with vascular dementia.
“So this year is the first year I was riding for both of my parents,” she said.
She said her father’s disease involves a rapid and sudden decline. Alzheimer’s and dementia can be frustrating for family members who want to learn to say and do all the right things, because the disease has differing effects based on the individual.
“This is so important for people to talk more openly about some of the behaviors that people have as they transform in their disease. It’s just such a dramatic shift of the people that they once were,” she said. “The relationship with your loved one will change over time, and you just have to take it a step at a time and a day at a time and just be patient.”
Brown said training for the endurance ride was therapeutic for her.
“When you’re spending hours on the bike by yourself, for me, it’s given a chance to reflect on the memories and what I can be doing more to help people with this,” she said.
Every 65 seconds, another person develops Alzheimer’s, and about 55 million people worldwide are living with dementia, according to statistics from the Alzheimer’s Association.
Brown said she wants the ride to increase awareness so that people can identify the early stages of Alzheimer’s and dementia to increase quality of life. Brown said people are often diagnosed too late to slow the progression of the disease.
Early signs can mimic symptoms typically associated with aging, such as forgetfulness. But there are subtle differences that can be indicative of the disease. For example, a person who loses their keys will likely be able to retrace their steps and eventually find them, Brown said.
“Someone with cognitive impairments might not be able to do that. It might take them a really long time, or they might not even know they lost them before their brain has moved on to something else,” she said.
A healthy lifestyle, including exercise, eating healthy foods and getting enough rest can prevent or mitigate the decline of the diseases. Staying connected and socially active is also very important, she said.
Brown is continuing her fundraising efforts through July 17, the day her parents would have celebrated their 52nd anniversary. She raised $4,245 as of July 1.
For more information or to donate, visit https://act.alz.org/site/TR/LongestDay2022/TheLongestDay?pg=team&fr_id=15144&team_id=721354. The Alzheimer’s Association offers 24/7 support through their Helpline at 800-272-3900.