Walk to End Alzheimer's; La Brea News; Think Air Podcast; KCET SoCal Connected updates

We had a nice walk today in Hermosa Beach for the Walk to End Alzheimer's.  Team Drasa had the second most contributions at $10, 670 (and counting).   Thanks to all of you who contributed and/or particpated! The organizers were kind enough to allow me to speak, and I asked people to share Nancy's story on social media. The full text is at the end of this post.  (here is the facebook page for today's walk: https://www.facebook.com/groups/beachcities/)

Alzheimer's Greater LA is also hosting a walk on October 29.  (This organization is distinct from the Alzheimer's Association.  AlzGLA concentrates on support in Los Angeles for sufferers of Alzheimer's and their care givers).  I believe we'll support this walk as well, and will post as soon as we have that worked out.  ALZGLA Walk Page

Ed Folven continues his coverage of our search - here is his latest article in the Park La Brea News:
http://beverlypress.com/2017/09/44782/

The Thin Air Podcast is scheduled to be release on October 9.  I'll post it here.

The KCET SoCal Connected segment featuring Nancy hasn't been scheduled yet ... I'll let you know as soon as I know when that's coming. 

Full text of my speech for the Beach Cities Walk to End Alzheimer's:



Good Morning, my name is Kirk Moody and I am a captain of Team Drasa.

Drasa is a Lithuanian word that means “Courage”, and we formed this team in 2015 after my wife, Nancy Paulikas was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease. Team Drasa first participated in the Walk to End Alzheimer’s in Huntington Beach, with a great many people supporting Nancy and helping to fund the search for a cure for Alzheimer’s – a truly cruel disease.

Last year, we once again formed Team Drasa with the intent of participating in the Long Beach Walk. Unfortunately, shortly before that time, Nancy went missing. Nancy and some of my family were visiting the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. We were wrapping up for the day, and visited the restroom one last time. I believe that Nancy finished there before I did, and took off looking for us, under the impression that we had left. Other than some security video that captures her walking away from the museum that afternoon, we have not unearthed a single clue as to her whereabouts, now, almost one year later.

We have had a great outpouring of support and volunteer help. Along with law enforcement, we have searched for Nancy in every conceivable way. At this point, the single most helpful thing you personally can do to help find Nancy is to share her story on all of your social media platforms. Hopefully, someone who sees it on social media, and has interacted with Nancy, will contact us and we can bring her home.

The fact that Nancy has been missing this long is quite unusual, but the fact that she “wandered” is sadly quite common. It is estimated that 60% of Alzheimer’s patients will wander from their home or caregiver at some point. I encourage all of you here today who are acquainted with an Alzheimer’s patient to familiarize yourself with the Wandering page on the Alzheimer’s Association’s website. Learn what you can do to reduce the chances of wandering and what to do if it does occur.

Thank you for listening and for participating in this event, directly contributing to efforts to attack this horrible disease.