‘It only intensifies the cause for me’: Woman continues Walk to End Alzheimer’s after husband passes from dementia

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WMBF) - Hundreds will gather at Grand Park in the Market Common to participate in the Alzheimer’s Association’s Walk to end Alzheimer’s.

More than 6 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s, and in South Carolina alone, more than 95,000 are living with the disease.

Up until last year, Patty Younts and her husband would walk hand in hand in the Walk to End Alzheimer’s, but on Saturday she’ll walk without him.

Younts and her husband signed up for the Walk to End Alzheimer’s back in 2014 a few years after doctors diagnosed her husband with Posterior Cortical Atrophy, a rare form of dementia.

Younts said she’s been volunteering with the Alzheimer’s Association ever since.

Younts is also an advocate who travels every year to Washington D.C. and the S.C. State House to advocate for respite care.

Respite Care provides primary caregivers with a break by having someone else sit with their loved one with Alzheimer’s.

Younts said her husband’s passing last year has only given her more reasons to participate in the Walk to End Alzheimer’s.

“It only intensifies the cause for me because I don’t want my family or anyone’s family to have to walk the dementia journey that my husband and I had to walk. So, it’s extremely important for me to continue the work and my volunteering so that one day families everywhere won’t have to walk, and we will have a cure for this disease,” said Younts

The walk is completely free to participate in, but you are encouraged to donate or raise money.

Younts said all the money raised will go towards support and research to find ways to fight the disease.

“Research is going to be the key to prevention and a cure for this disease. So, we need people to get involved and donate to make this happen,” said Younts.

You can join Younts and the hundreds of other families in the Alzheimer Association’s Walk to End Alzheimer’s Saturday, November 5, at Grand Park in the Market Common.

You can register online by clicking here or register Saturday morning starting at 10:00 a.m.

The two-mile walk kicks off after the opening ceremony at 10:45 a.m.

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