WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Hundreds of people gathered Saturday morning at Dreher Park in West Palm Beach for the Walk to End Alzheimer's.
WPTV's Jay Cashmere and Janny Rodriguez served as emcees for the event. WPTV is a proud sponsor of the Walk to End Alzheimer's.
Participants held different colored flowers to represent victims of Alzheimer's and their loved ones.
Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia in which people begin to experience memory loss.
According to Walk to End Alzeihmer’s, the disease kills more people than breast cancer and prostate cancer combined. The disease affected nearly 6 million Americans last year. One in three seniors dies with Alzheimer's or another dementia.
Judy Pesetsky was one of the hundreds of people who participated in the event. Her family has been impacted by the disease.
"I lost my mother at 81 and I lost my brother at 67, almost a year ago," said Pesetsky.
More than 580,000 people in Florida are living with the disease. According to Walk to End Alzheimer’s, deaths from that illness and dementia have increased 16% during the pandemic across the country.
"COVID did my brother in, because he was able to go to a day care for Alzheimer’s people and then COVID hit," said Pesetsky. "It just totally destroyed him. So they have to find something."
This annual event brings together people from different walks of life who share one common goal -- to raise awareness and fight against Alzheimer's. Cashmere's grandmother died from the disease 30 years ago.
"This is an epidemic that is slowly creeping into our community," said Cashmere. "We have to be aware of it. The more we talk about it, the more we raise money and the more we walk, the better we are going to be tomorrow and understanding this disease."
The walk has a fund raising goal of $200,000 to help advance the care, support and research efforts of the Alzheimer's Association.
"They have to find a cure, or some kind of help for the ones (who) have it already," said Pesetsky.