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The South Central chapter of Alzheimer’s Tennessee welcomed friends, family, elected officials and community members to the fifth annual Purple Olympics to make Alzheimer’s a memory.

The event took place inside the gymnasium at Tullahoma High School, and Fran Gray, the South Central Regional Coordinator for Alzheimer’s Tennessee, welcomed everyone for coming to the event and told them that the event is a way to tell families who are facing Alzheimer’s that they are not alone. She recognized there are several participants from Coffee and neighboring counties, and that the event marked the 40th anniversary of Alzheimer’s Tennessee.

President and CEO of Alzheimer’s Tennessee Janice Wade-Whitehead told attendees that the organization’s goal is to raise more than $40,000, and, at the time of the event, they were only $4,500 away from their goal. She encouraged the participates to continue their fundraising efforts

“You are rocking it this year,” Wade said. “We are very close to goal. Keep on fundraising.”

Representatives of Walmart and Vanderbilt Tullahoma – Harton Hospital (VTHH), who helped to sponsor the event, spoke and shared their enthusiasm with supporting both the event itself and Alzheimer’s Tennessee.

“We are so thankful for coming out this morning, and support family and friends who are facing Alzheimer’s,” Marilyn Smith, Chief Nursing Officer for VTHH, said. “We are here to serve and we are glad for the opportunity to do so.”

Gray then invited State Rep. Rush Bricken, R-Tullahoma, to the podium, where he thanked the participants and volunteers for coming to the event and said it was pleasure to be in attendance.

Bricken then talked about the Silver Alert, which was passed in the General Assembly and signed into law by Gov. Bill Lee in June 2021. The Silver Alert is a statewide public notification system to send out information about missing persons who have wandered due to Alzheimer’s disease, dementia or other mental disabilities. With May being Silver Alert Awareness Month, Bricken said since July 2021 there have been over 200 Silver Alerts put out in Tennessee with exceptional results.

“I think the Silver Alert program has been invaluable to Tennessee,” Bricken said. “It was one of the easy pieces of legislation that our state can pass.”

This year’s featured speaker was Tullahoma resident and member of the Tullahoma Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution Mary Anne Scott. Scott spoke about her husband, Tom, who battled Alzheimer’s disease later in his life, by reading her essay wrote for a contest with DAR titled “My Journey Hijacked by Alzheimer’s.” She said she wanted to share it because it had been very cathartic for her to share.

Her husband of 20 years died in December 2021 at the age of 86. Scott described his death as not a singularity, but a process that began a decade prior when the first symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease started to appear.

“Some call [Alzheimer’s disease] as the long goodbye,” Scott said.

Scott said when she first met Tom she didn’t really need a partner, but with a grandchild coming along the way, she believed that they needed a grandfather. She described Tom as great with children, very intelligent with an inclined mind, with had a Ph.D. in Physics, and wore his grey hair long with a matching beard, where she said it they were addressed as Mr. and Mrs. Claus. She said they were married in 2001 on her parent’s 60th anniversary, which she cherished as a precious memory.

As the disease progressed, she decided it was important for her to be close to her family and moved back in 2012. She described the first few years as “tolerable,” and said her husband knew he had Alzheimer’s and on the surface seemed accepting but they no longer had “frank conversations” as he became more deflective and defensive. Scott said she spent her time volunteering and doing neurological research as a way to keep busy, which she called important when dealing with her stress. Over time she took over handling their finances, medicines and driving.

“The disease is a provision of losses, it’s harder to focus on the here and now, hard to find joy,” Scott said.

The progression of the disease reached a point where Scott said, during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, she realized she couldn’t care of him at their home. He was moved to an assisted living facility and for a time she wasn’t able to visit him due to the pandemic. She said he adjusted well and was a favorite among the staff as while he wasn’t able to speak, he still had his charm and smile. During his final months, Scott said he would sometimes recognize her and sometimes not, which would make visits hard, but there were moments when she saw a twinkle in his eye, giving her an inkling that a bit him still remained.

She received the call of his passing in December, when she was participating in laying wreaths for Wreaths Across America at Shofner Cemetery in Bedford County. Her first reaction was overwhelming grief, followed by a comforting feeling of relief as while her partner was gone, he was at peace.

She said while his death was expected, the days following his death were hard with many phone calls, emails and all the funeral arrangements. She said it was time to move on, but in doing so meant letting go of many of the physical belongings from their lives. She admitted she postponed this until a few of her relatives visited and helped her to start going through his things, where she said she is still taking time to go through their items.

Before finishing, she said she recently read an article from The Washington Post that suggested to use a “nudge word” instead of a New Year’s Resolution. She said her nudge word for the year is “recharge.”

“The pandemic turned many of us into recluses. I’m now struggling with that,” Scott said. “I need to recharge to enjoy outdoor activities, I need to recharge my camera battery and actively pursue my love of photography, I need to recharge friendships I have neglected and the list goes on.”

Gray thanked Scott for sharing her story and said she makes them want to recharge as well.

For more about Alzheimer’s Tennessee, visit www.alztennessee.org.