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Teams are signing up for the Foothills Memory Walk to be held here in Blount County in September. Teams like the Forget-Me-Nots, Larry's Friends and Family, Mary's Angels and the Six Mile Walkers. Teams who can all point to someone they know and love and say "he/she has Alzheimer's."

Walking in the Memory Walk, for them, is about getting off the sidelines and into the fight that might one day result in a cure.

Today, as many as 5.2 million Americans are living with the disease, which is now the seventh leading cause of death in this country, according to a newly released report from the Alzheimer's Association. The new report says that Alzheimer's will strike one out of eight baby boomers.

Janice Wade-Whitehead, executive director of the Alzheimer's Association Eastern Tennessee Chapter, met last week with several members of the planning committee for the 2008 Foothills Memory Walk, set for Sept. 27 on the campus of Maryville College. Teams are being recruited -- both old and new -- to make this another successful event, she said.

Sad and shocking

She said this new report is full of shocking statistics that make it urgent to band together and do our part to show support for victims of this disease and find a cure.

Every 71 seconds someone in America develops Alzheimer's disease, Wade-Whitehead pointed out. By 2010, there will be almost half a million new cases of the disease a year; and by 2050, there will be almost a million new cases each year.

Alzheimer's, the most common form of dementia, is a progressive and fatal brain disease that destroys brain cells, causing problems with memory. Women are nearly twice as likely as men to develop the disease. It has no known cure.

Pam Young is the 2008 co-chair and like so many others, has lost family members to Alzheimer's. Her grandmother, Anna Jenkins was a victim, and her mother, Wilma McConnell was in the early stages when she died.

Young said the goal is to recruit even more teams this year and have more events lined up for the day of the walk.

"I want to encourage everyone to rally together -- whether it's a women's group, a church group or a school group," Young said. "Anybody can participate."

Team spirit

There are several banks, churches, health care centers, the hospital, area schools and families who have signed up and raised money each year of the walk. Some hold bake sales, car washes, craft shows, chili lunches, beauty contests and various other fundraisers over the course of the weeks leading up to the walk.

The other co-chair for this year's event is Faun Norton. A retired school teacher, she taught Young in school and asked her to come on board for this worthy cause.

Norton has been an active supporter of the Alzheimer's Association for many years through her membership in Sigma Kappa sorority. She and Steve West were the catalysts that got the Memory Walk started here.

The Foothills Memory Walk includes Blount, Loudon and Monroe counties. Norton said it's her goal to reach out more to those two other counties and increase participation. It is slowly building, she said.

The 2007 walk raised $147,000, Organizers hope to meet or exceed that for 2008.

All it will take is hard work, some decent walking shoes and teamwork.