For years, Los Altos resident Kim Wilford watched Alzheimer’s Disease rob her beloved mother-in-law of her memories, spirit and finally, her life.
Wilford, a longtime distance runner, laced up her running shoes this holiday season to honor her late mother-in-law, Ruth Wilford, and bring attention to the millions of people living with this disease.
From Nov. 24 to Dec. 3, Wilford and fellow members of the Los Altos Running group took part in the Alzheimer’s Association’s Miles That Matter challenge, which asks supporters to walk a mile each day for 10 days to raise funds for research. Wilford decided to aim a little higher and sent an email asking her teammates if they’d be interested in working toward a collective goal of running 1,000 miles in that same span.
Nearly 25 Los Altos Running group members quickly signed up for the challenge. Wilford set up a GoFundMe page connected to the Strava fitness-tracking app, enabling her teammates to log their miles each day. As of Saturday, Nov. 29, the group was well on its way to meeting—and surpassing—its goal.
“There are so many of us with family members and friends who have been impacted by Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia,” said Wilford, 57, who works as the chief legal officer at GoFundMe. “I thought this challenge would be a great way to rally everybody together during the holidays.”
Alzheimer’s is a degenerative brain disease and the most common cause of dementia. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, more than 7 million Americans are living with the disease, including 720,000 people in California.
Wilford saw up close the effects of Alzheimer’s and the toll it took on her husband and sister as they tried to care for Ruth, who died this past summer at age 93.
“I watched it take the life from my mother-in-law,” she said. “Over the years, her body stayed strong, but all the memories and warmth that had defined her throughout her life, that was just gone. That’s the cruelty of Alzheimer’s; it takes people piece by piece. Memory is so key to our identity. It gives your soul life and allows you to emotionally connect with people around you. When that’s gone, you become a shell of who you once were.”
Peggy McGrath, a longtime member of the Los Altos Running group, also knows how devastating this disease can be. Her grandmother battled Alzheimer’s and her mother, 96, suffers from dementia with some Alzheimer’s-like symptoms.
“It’s not like a lot of other things that people die from, where you get sick and you fight it and maybe it goes into remission,” said McGrath, 62, who ran five miles daily as part of the fundraising challenge. “There’s no remission with this disease. It’s a slow road and a sad road for most people.”
Megan Mozart, another veteran running group member, lost her mother to Alzheimer’s in 2020. Mozart said participating in the fundraising challenge means a lot to her.
“I fear that I could possibly inherit this disease myself one day,” she said. “I hope that there could possibly be a cure someday. When my mother was diagnosed, there were a few medicines out but none of them worked. But maybe in years to come, and with more money to fund the research, there could be some medications that can help.”
The Los Altos Running group, with its camaraderie and supportive environment, was a natural for taking on the Miles That Matter challenge, Wilford said. The group regularly meets in downtown Los Altos on Mondays and Wednesdays at 6 a.m. for short runs, at Foothill Community College on Thursdays for track runs, and on Saturday mornings behind Peet’s on State Street for longer runs.
“We’re as much of a social group as we are a running group,” said McGrath. “And in many ways, we’re a support group for each other. We’ve watched our members go through injuries, surgeries, family members passing away, and so many other things. We’ve always been there for each other. It’s just a really special group of people.”