(MYRTLE BEACH, SC WBTW) June is Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness Month and one group on the Grand Strand is working to raise money to find a cure.
A group of cyclists from the Myrtle Beach area will participate in a fundraising and awareness cross-state bike ride in two weeks.
Riders from across the country travel to the Palmetto State to participate in the Alzheimer’s Association’s “Ride to Remember”. The group will begin the three-day trek in Spartanburg, and end in Charleston.
The Alzheimer’s Association reports since 2000, the percentage of Alzheimer’s related death has increased nearly 200% in South Carolina alone. South Carolina also has the eighth highest percentage of Alzheimer’s related deaths in the country.
Steven Lundy is riding for the third time this year and tells News13, everyone on their team rides for someone.
“We all have been affected so we ride for those people,” Lundy said. “For instance, we had a gentleman last year who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and he actually rode that leg for himself.”
Both of Lundy’s grandfathers had Alzheimer’s and he says, the memory of their disease will stay with him forever.
“A lot of these people were caretakers for us when we were young,” he explained. “Our parents, our sisters, our brothers, our grandparents, you know to have that role reversed, it’s something that you can’t put into words.”
For more information or to donate to a Ride to Remember, click here.
