Raising Awareness for Alzheimer’s: A Personal Crusade

Watching her mother suffer from Alzheimer’s spurred Indra Echeverri into action by running in marathons to raise awareness of Alzheimer’s.
Raising Awareness for Alzheimer’s: A Personal Crusade
Alzheimer’s supporters who are asking for increased funding for research stand together in front of City Hall on Sept. 20 in Manhattan. Benjamin Chasteen/The Epoch Times
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<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/20120920Alzheimers_BenC_9952.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-294806" title="20120920Alzheimers_BenC_9952" src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/20120920Alzheimers_BenC_9952-676x450.jpg" alt="Indra Echeverri and Cindy Chin Levine (L-R in front row), who will be running in the New York marathon to raise awareness for Alzheimer's, stand in front of City Hall in Manhattan, Sept. 20. (Benjamin Chasteen/The Epoch Times)" width="590" height="393"/></a>
Indra Echeverri and Cindy Chin Levine (L-R in front row), who will be running in the New York marathon to raise awareness for Alzheimer's, stand in front of City Hall in Manhattan, Sept. 20. (Benjamin Chasteen/The Epoch Times)

NEW YORK—Watching her mother suffer from Alzheimer’s spurred Indra Echeverri into action. The physical education teacher at Westside High is one of 77 runners nationwide who run marathons to raise awareness of Alzheimer’s.

“One of the things that would have made everything more easy for me was if I had been more aware of how Alzheimer’s really is,” said Echeverri, who is currently training for the New York Marathon in November.

Charles F. Tang, 87, of Chinatown cared for his wife for five years before she passed away. He recalled 2003/4 when he discovered his wife had Alzheimer’s. “Suddenly she was so weird,” he said. Tang said it was initially difficult to find information. Eventually, he went to the Alzheimer’s Association New York chapter and attended educational meetings.