Local family rallying behind member with early-onset Alzheimer’s, raising money for cure
One family is doing all it can to help one family member, and the community, by helping to find answers to Alzheimer’s disease.
Every 66 seconds, someone is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in the United States. A local family had to deal with the disheartening news of Julie Huntsman’s diagnosis last year.
“It took me a month to kind of get going,” Huntsman said. “I thought, ‘This is just terrible how is this happening, I don’t even understand anything, you know?’ And then one morning I just got out of bed and I said, ‘Dammit, I’m getting up because we’ve got to get up and keep moving,’ because otherwise you just lay around.”
“It was really — it was tough. She really is one of the most important people in our family. She holds us together and she’s always so happy and she takes good care of all of us,” said Jennifer Seeley, Huntsman’s niece.
Her family is rallying behind her. Going through Huntsman’s trials, the family says finding a cure should be in the near future. Worry, along with their strong bond and passion, are their driving force to making a difference.
“We don’t sit around so, if there’s something that’s come up we might not be able to fix it, but we’re going to work on it,” said Val Seeley, Huntsman’s sister.
There are currently 42 teams signed up for the local Walk to End Alzheimer’s in September. More than $44,000 has been raised with a goal of $85,000. And Huntsman’s family has raised the second largest amount of money in eastern Idaho — only trailing behind one local business.
“It’s how our family is. We started off with a goal of $2,000 and we hit that right away. So we’re like, ‘Well, let’s go to $5,000.’ So we hit $5,000 and now we’re over $5,000. We just checked the other day and we’re at about $6,000 that we’ve raised,” Jennifer Seeley said.
They’re hoping their contribution helps with that final push to find a cure.
“I shouldn’t worry — I need to worry — but I want to do really good for myself and for my family and for my granddaughter and all those kinds of thing,” Huntsman said.
“You don’t have to ask too many people before you find out that it’s affecting everybody. You know, it’s in everyone’s lives,” Seeley said.
As the name of the family’s team puts it, they’re “Alz In.”
This year’s eastern Idaho Walk to End Alzheimer’s will be Sept. 9 at Freeman Park in Idaho Falls. KIFI/KIDK’s Steve Cannon will emcee the event. To find out more information on how to join a team or to donate, click here.
