I was always in awe of people who fundraise...who are really good at it...and who have a special tie to specific organization. I always wanted to help them because I felt that if they were dedicating their valued time to raise money for a cause, that it must be incredibly important to them. I had never found myself in that situation because there wasn't something incredibly close to my heart, until now.
My grandmother "Nanni" passed away on March 25, 2014 but she felt gone for many years before her passing. Nanni had Alheimers.
Nanni was the quintessential Italian matriarch. The entire family would get together every for summer trips to Nanni and Poppi's house where Nanni would spend the majority of her days in the kitchen cooking the most wonderful food, while us little kids (The Cousins) would run laps in the yard and swim laps in the pool. We had the most amazing time, being together, and being cared for by Nanni and Poppi. All my grandparents cared about was having the family together and they documented everything with cameras, and videocameras...all day...every day. They actually would set the video camera up on a tripod and leave it on from the beginning of the day until the grandkids went to sleep. We had the most amazing memories...and the most incredible videos and pictures to show for them.
Watching my Nanni lose her memories...the ones that she and my grandfather fought so hard to capture was incredibly painful for the entire family to endure.
There are so many people who struggle with this disease and so many family members who are hurt by it.
There has to be a cure. We have to do what we can to help find it.