“Each of us is here for our own unique reasons, but we’re all united by this terrible disease called Alzheimer’s disease,” said Linda Newkirk, executive director of the Mid-Missouri Alzheimer’s Association. Surrounded by a sea of purple T-shirts and a field of pinwheel flowers spinning in the breeze Saturday morning at the Missouri State Fairgrounds’ Highway Gardens, she addressed the crowd assembled for Sedalia’s 14th Walk to End Alzheimer’s.
Dealing with Alzheimer’s was one common thread among participants at the walk, but the predominant sentiments of those attending the upbeat event were happiness, determination and hope. Families and friends purchased raffle tickets for door prizes, munched on free snacks and wrote messages to memorialize their loved ones on blue, purple and orange flower pinwheels as they waited for the walk to begin.
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