Sisters walk across Beaufort bridge on Saturday as tribute to mom who died of Alzheimer’s
Instead of a sea of purple shirts at this year’s Walk to End Alzheimer’s, participants are part of smaller groups across Beaufort and Jasper counties.
The walkers’ goal remains the same in spite of the need for social distancing: Find a cure for the disease that affects millions of Americans each year.
Among the participants Saturday morning is a trio of sisters whose mother died of Alzheimer’s on April 30.
Bobbie Jean Kinard, a resident of Grays who had been given the nickname “Bum Bum” by her beloved grandson, had been diagnosed at the early age of 62.
Her daughters, Denise Boyd of Lady’s Island, Teresa Cole of Rincon and Amy Hunsucker of Aiken formed Team Bum Bum with the goal of raising $1,500 for the Alzheimer’s Association in their mother’s honor. As of Saturday morning, the team had raised more than $2,300.
Kinard was a stay-at-home mom who became a cafeteria worker at Wade Hampton High School in Varnville after her children were grown. Boyd said her mother loved her job and was a wonderful Southern cook.
It was Kinard’s co-workers who first recognized her signs of confusion and memory loss.
“This was the farthest thing from our mind,” Boyd said, explaining that there is no family history of Alzheimer’s. “We had no experience with the disease.”
The Alzheimer’s Association lists 10 early signs of the disease:
- Memory loss that disrupts daily life
- Challenges in planning of solving problems
- Difficulty completing familiar tasks
- Confusion with time or place
- Trouble understanding visual images and spacial relationships
- New problems with words in speaking or writing
- Misplacing things and losing the ability to retrace steps
- Decreased or poor judgment
- Withdrawal from work or social activities
- Changes in mood or personality
More than 5 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease, and more than 16 million are providing unpaid care to them. In South Carolina alone, more than 95,000 have the disease, according to a news release from the Alzheimer’s Association.
On Saturday morning, Kinard’s daughters expected to be joined by a few of friends from Pine Level Baptist Church in Jasper County to walk from The Pearl at Port Royal assisted living center to the other side of the McTeer Bridge. They’ll carry flags and, with each step, remember Kinard’s life and the love she gave them.
“If we can help any family see the signs early with our story, we hope it helps,” Boyd said, wondering through tears how her mother’s story could have been different if she had been diagnosed even one year earlier.
“It’s a tough disease on the family to watch someone who was always there for you become more dependent on others. She would never have wanted to be dependent.”
In Bluffton
A Promise Garden sponsored by the NHC Continuum of Care in honor of those affected by Alzheimer’s will be on display at The Promenade in Old Town Bluffton from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday Participants are invited to drive by and honor those affected by the disease.
For more information about the walk or to reach a free helpline for caregivers and families, go to alz.org/walk or call 800-272-3900.
