Nancy the backpacker…

From her long-time friend and fellow backpacker, Will Thomas

Nancy the backpacker…

She has spent her whole life in the mountains, starting as a kid and into her 50's, up and down the Sierra Nevadas, including the length of the John Muir trail. Nancy has tremendous endurance, a love of nature and the wilderness in ways unimaginable by those who have not hiked up a mountain, seen the sun disappear over a slab of granite, or felt a spark as dawn sweeps across the mirrored surface of a glacial lake. I have had the extreme privilege to share some of those experiences with Nancy and Kirk. They are hallowed memories.

Three years ago we had to climb out of the Rae Lakes basin over Glen Pass (11,926') after a stormy night of being cramped inside our tents. The rains had stopped by morning but seriously dark thunderheads hovered over the basin, and we needed to hustle - being trapped atop the narrow spine of Glen Pass in a lightning storm did not seem like a good idea. Kirk was in the lead - he is a cyclist and it showed. Andrea, our very fit friend from Menlo Park was in the back with Nancy, and I was in the middle. I was in extremely good shape for that trip and very motivated that morning. No matter how hard the pace pressed, Nancy kept up through the entire ascent, which was really no surprise. Nancy can walk all day, up and down, under a heavy load, and it doesn't faze her. She's relentless, strong and she loves every minute of it.

Alzheimer's has lately robbed Nancy of many things like a thief in the night, but memories of the robust, mountaineering Nancy live on. Those Sierra trails may still echo with the soft thud of her lug soled boots today, her baby blue backpack settled nicely on her hips, with her characteristic bandanna and hat bobbing with each step. I think, maybe, just around that next bend...

Plans for Saturday, October 29th

The LA Times full-page ad came out today and we have had a surprisingly low rate of tips.  So, we will focus on canvassing activities in areas a little further out from LACMA.

• For Saturday, October 29^th, we will be walking/biking the streets of LA a little further from LACMA.  If you are willing to join our canvassing team, please send an email to NancyIsMissing@gmail.com with your name, email, cell #, and availability times. 
• A small team will be available for chasing down tips.
• There will be teams hiking in Griffith Park on Saturday.  If you’re interested, meet at the merry-go-round in Griffith Park at 9 am.  We may choose another park for Sunday, but have not yet decided.  

A few “out of the box” ideas for those who have this expertise:

• Drone review of places with larger wilderness areas like Griffith Park or the Santa Monica Mountains.
• Pokemon Go:  If you play Pokemon Go and can spread the word to fellow Pokemon searchers, we’d appreciate your passing the flyer to them. 

Please tell us if you want to canvas tomorrow

Please email us at NancyIsMissing@gmail.com with your name, your cell, and the time you are available. 

If you let us know in advance, we can probably tell you the target area early (maybe outside of the immediate LACMA area, but in a close surrounding area).  You have the choice to go directly, or stop in at HQ for fliers.

Thanks

Nancy the person (from Nancy's Father)

The thing about Nancy that has always amazed us is her fearlessness and independence.  We started her skiing when she was barely three.  When she was probably no more than four or five we had gone on a family ski trip to Mammoth, Mountain. Coming down the slope together, her mother took a fall and I stopped to help.  In what was no more than a flash I turned around and Nancy was nowhere to be seen.  We searched everywhere over the next few panic stricken moments and her mother was sure that our little girl was going to freeze to death on the mountain.

You can imagine the relief we felt when a short while later, a fellow skier who had found Nancy had continued skiing to the bottom of Chair 2, scooped her up, rode up with her to the top of the chair with her and skied down the slope with her to the Main Lodge where we were reunited.  She was giggling and thrilled to have had such an exciting ride.  It is just that kind of fearlessness, even in the face of her Alzheimer’s condition, that will bring her back to us from this more perilous journey.  Her mother and I are deeply indebted to each and every one of you who have responded to our pleas for assistance in helping to find her.  Together we will make it happen.

• George Paulikas, Nancy’s Father

Our "Team Drasa" was scheduled to walk to support Alzheimer's Research tomorrow in Long Beach...

Drasa is Lithuanian for courage. Team Drasa is dedicated to support our courageous Nancy P, as well as to others who have battled dementia - or may yet someday - and to those placed into the crucible of care givers. We celebrate life and a future in which our donations will help overcome the tragedy of AD.

Since Nancy is still missing, there remains a strong emphasis on searching. Any Team Drasa members who wish to volunteer for tracking down incoming tips, canvassing neighborhoods, monitoring transportation systems, surveying parks and public places, etc. may volunteer by email to NancyIsMissing@gmail.com

And any donations to the Alzheimer's association are always welcome:

Alzheimer's Association: California Southland

And our  Team Drasa page for the walk tomorrow is at: (I can't figure out how to make this appear as a link ... you can choose the text, right click, and then "go to link" ... or something else I don't understand on a Mac ... If you know how to help me and you are an author, just fix it and get rid of this text, if you are not an author, please email NancyIsMissing.Blogspot.com)

http://act.alz.org/site/TR?team_id=354267&pg=team&fr_id=8837&et=-iXEKGUqjRYMsLmf0wztXg

Nancy the Person (from Nancy's Mother)

In our ongoing effort to introduce you to Nancy the person we are attaching these reflections from her mother.

There are probably only a handful of mothers who can say that one of their greatest joys in life was a shared passion for flying with their daughter, but that is certainly true for Nancy and me.  When she was about six years old and started going to school all day, I secretly began to pursue my lifelong passion of learning to fly.  Several months later when I told my family about my flying lessons, six year old Nancy piped up and said “Oh boy, that’s what I want to do too.”  The day she turned 16, she came back to us and said, “Okay, I’m ready!”

After taking flying lessons in Torrance and later in college at Davis, Nancy became a certified pilot.  Like me, she loved the sense of empowerment and independence that flying afforded.  We started a tradition of mother-daughter spring-break excursions that created some of my favorite memories.  Since being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, Nancy has been grounded, but the wonderful memories of those days are still with me.  I know that some of the innate skills she cultivated as a pilot will serve her well during this terrible time.  That belief, coupled with the incredible outpouring of community support that we have seen, is what is keeping us going until Nancy returns.

-  Joan Paulikas, Nancy’s Mother

Plans for Friday, October 28, 2016

The online ad as well as the print ad is now scheduled to come out on Friday.  We are hoping to get a heavier load of tips in response to the LA Times ad, so we may need support in one of two ways:

1.     We will post the tips on the blog and Facebook.  If you have a chance to follow up on one of the leads, please send details to NancyIsMissing@gmail.com.  For info that we need ASAP, please call our tip hotline:  310-650-7965.

2.     If you are available to track down leads for us on short notice, we might contact you (especially if you are near the sighting).  If you want to be on this team of “Tip Trackers”, please send your name, email, cell, and location (day and evening) to NancyIsMissing@gmail.com.  Thanks to one of our “Tip Trackers” who was able to quickly respond to a tip today and text a photo back to Kirk for his review.

We have added a “Sightings” page to the right side of the blog.   We have also added a “FAQ” page that lists some of the things that we are doing (or have done).  Additional ideas are always welcome, so post ideas under the “Other Ideas” page.

• For Friday, October 26^th, we will continue walking, biking, and driving.
• Solicit support of the public to look at their videos in these areas to find evidence of Nancy on the sidewalks or public areas.  Pictures of Nancy are linked at the top of this blog.
• We will continue to collect videos from specific locations where we have reported sightings, and view them via a team of volunteers.   Businesses in the area have been reviewing video on their own as well.
• We have a “standing” team who call hospitals in LA County daily to check for new "Jane Does".  Many members of this team are working full-time jobs and/or are out-of-state.  If any “Jane Doe” is discovered, we send a team out to investigate.

  

A few “out of the box” ideas for those who have this expertise:

• Drone review of places with larger wilderness areas like Griffith Park or the Santa Monica Mountains.
• Pokemon Go:  if you play Pokemon Go and can spread the word to fellow Pokemon searchers, we’d appreciate your passing the flyer to them.

Weekend plans are being formulated now.  We are considering canvassing areas south and east of LACMA and parks in the area.  Stay tuned for the exact meeting locations. 

Again, a big thanks to everyone who has offered help and/or ideas – and a blanket apology if we haven’t gotten back to you.  It is super-hectic here at the “Find Nancy” Headquarters, but we do read all blog comments, Facebook posts, and emails and appreciate everyone’s help and support.

LET'S FIND NANCY!!!

Another great story from Patch.com on Nancy!

Another great story from Patch.com on Nancy!

http://patch.com/california/manhattanbeach/family-police-renewing-call-help-find-missing-manhattan-beach-woman

Mary Beth McDade of KTLA 5 interviewed Kirk and Sargent Paul Ford of MBPD tonight

News at 10PM and 11PM

Great job by reporter Mary Beth McDade and her awesome cameraman/editor Shawn!  Thanks so much to both of you... Helping to keep LA looking for Nancy!

http://ktla.com/2016/10/27/manhattan-beach-woman-with-alzheimers-missing-since-trip-to-lacma-2-weeks-ago-publics-help-sought/

How to use public Facebook and Instagram images to help search for Nancy

(from one of Kirk's concerned and very helpful neighbors, thanks!)
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Perhaps those of us on Facebook and Instagram (or with children using these sites) can help in the search effort by scanning these sites for photos and videos where Nancy may be in the background. This could help narrow the search because many photos on these sites are tagged by location and date.

Just now, for example, on the Nancy is Missing blog, there was a tip that a woman was spotted sleeping on a bench on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica.  We immediately searched some of the tag locations in that area and started looking through posted photos and videos on Instagram, in many of which you can see people on the benches along the promenade.

How to help: Enter the location, store, park or other landmark in the search bar of Instagram and click on the "Places" tab to pull up the photos taken at that location. On Facebook, you can search for “Photos taken at Third Street Promenade” or “Photos taken at LACMA” for example. For any search area, there are many tags that may have been used, so look out for popular stores or landmarks in the area, or a broader search, e.g. “Downtown Santa Monica”.

Then comb through the photos and videos that have been geotagged most recently/today.

Scan for scenic or crowd shots, which might offer the best chance of a sighting of Nancy in the background. Watch the videos to look for Nancy walking in the background or seated on a bench.

This is likely something that the police (or others) are already doing, but even so, the more people trying to find her, the better. Any time there is a tip posted, we can all search that location on social media and scan for Nancy in the background of other people’s photos. Additionally, you can do a location search for areas near LACMA in case she has stayed close to the museum. Hopefully this is something that we, the village, can help with, to ensure that we are leaving no stone unturned.

Seeing Nancy's walking "gait" is helpful for video viewers looking at security camera footage

There's a link to a video of Nancy walking in the right column of this blog under "More IMAGES of NANCY and FLYERS" so video reviewers can see her gait.  Thanks Vard!

Nancy the person

Those of you who have been following this blog because you know Nancy already understand why so many people are committed to bringing her home.  For those of you who only know her as a “Missing Person,” we’d like to share a little bit about who she really is.  If you are reading this blog [post] you already know that Nancy is a middle-aged woman suffering with a form of Alzheimer’s disease that has robbed her of her ability to communicate and think in the sharp, clear and compassionate manner that had characterized her prior life. You have seen the portrait of the woman wearing a red paisley blouse and blue jeans in the photos on the flyer.  You know that she is 5’7” tall, has a slim build and grey/brown hair.

What you don’t know is that she is a graduate of the University of California-Davis with a Master’s Degree in computer science from UCLA and is also a certified pilot, an animal lover who almost became a vet, an experienced hiker and back packer, a devoted fan of Nine Inch Nails, a passionate conservationist and an accomplished business woman.  To her parents, George and Joan, she is the treasured only child who lights up their lives.  To me, her husband of fourteen years, she is the soul-mate that I’d never imagined being lucky enough to find.  To her many friends, she is regarded as a stalwart, intelligent, fun-loving and loyal compadre.  Though many of these outstanding characteristics have been dimmed over the last couple of years by the progressive toll of her advancing Alzheimer’s disease, she remains all of these things and we will continue to share the stories that make her as real to you as she is to us until together we have her safely at home.

Plans for Thursday, October 27, 2016

LA TIMES:  We are running a full-page ad in the Los Angeles Times – many thanks to the LA Times for their help in placing this ad.  The online version will come out on Thursday (10/27) and the print version will come out on Friday (10/28).

We are hoping to get a heavier load of tips in response to the LA Times ad, so we may need support in one of two ways:

1.     We will post the tips on the blog and Facebook.  If you have a chance to follow up on one of the leads, please send details to NancyIsMissing@gmail.com.  For info that we need ASAP, please call our tip hotline:  310-650-7965.

2.     If you are available to track down leads for us on short notice, we might contact you (especially if you are near the sighting).  If you want to be on this team of “Tip Trackers”, please send your name, email, cell, and location (day and evening) to NancyIsMissing@gmail.com.

We have added a “Sightings” page to the right side of the blog.   We have also added a “FAQ” page that lists some of the things that we are doing (or have done).  Additional ideas are always welcome, so post ideas under the “Other Ideas” page.

• For Thursday, October 26^th, we will continue walking, biking, and driving.
• Solicit support of the public to look at their videos in these areas to find evidence of Nancy on the sidewalks or public areas.  Pictures of Nancy are linked at the top of this blog.  A big THANKS to Fox Studios for searching through their videos!!!
• We will continue to collect videos from specific locations where we have reported sightings, and view them via a team of volunteers.   Businesses in the area have been reviewing video on their own as well.
• We have a team who call hospitals in LA County daily to check for new "Jane Does".  If any “Jane Doe” is discovered, we send a team out to investigate.

A big thanks to everyone who has offered help and/or ideas – and a blanket apology if we haven’t gotten back to you.  It is super-hectic here at the “Find Nancy” Headquarters, but we do read all blog comments, Facebook posts, and emails and appreciate everyone’s help and support.

LET'S FIND NANCY!!!

Got a call from a guy who said he's seen a woman sleeping on a bench on the 3rd Street Promenade between Arizona and Santa Monica.

Woman was wearing a black hoodie and had a blanket.

If anyone is in the area and has a chance to follow up, please send details to NancyIsMissing@gmail.com.

For info that we need ASAP, please call our tip hotline: 310-650-7965

Plans for Wednesday, October 26, 2016

• For Wednesday, October 26^th, we are focusing on three areas:
• The mid-Wilshire area around LACMA and The Grove
• The area around La Brea and Pico
• Parks in the Baldwin Hills, such as the Kenneth Hahn Park
• Walk, bike or drive in these areas:
• Please report back on your area covered, when you covered it, if you saw flyers in the area, if people you spoke to were aware of our efforts, and any other information of potential interest
• Send this information to NancyIsMissing@gmail.com 
• Remember to stay safe, always be in pairs, and be aware of your surroundings.
• Solicit support of the public to look at their videos in these areas to find evidence of Nancy on the sidewalks or public areas.  Pictures of Nancy are linked at the top of this blog
• We will continue to collect videos from specific locations where we have reported sightings, and view them via a team of volunteers.  We also have volunteers looking through the video.
• HUGE thanks to "Farmer's Daughter" hotel and the "Image" women's clothing stores for providing large amounts of video footage for our team!!!
• We have, on-call, a small team to provide "quick response" follow-ups to possible sightings
• We have volunteers who are physically visiting police stations around LA County to ensure that current information about Nancy is in their Watch Change briefings
• Huge kudos to our "Hospital" team who calls about 100 hospitals in LA county daily to check for new "Jane Does".  If any “Jane Does” are discovered, we send a "quick response" team out to investigate.
• If you are available to help in tasks tomorrow, please send contact information to NancyIsMissing@gmail.com and we will see if there is a task for that could use your help!

LET'S FIND NANCY!!!

Nancy Characteristics that Might Help with the Search

Kimberly Kelly is an expert on Search and Rescue for wanderers.  She has written a detailed report on Nancy that has a tremendous amount of information of great value in searching for her.  I am going to try to summarize these points in a list.

Appearance (and remember, these things may have changed …)

• Wearing wire frame glasses
• She also has some clip-on sunglasses that she was carrying in a black glasses case.  She often wore those over the glasses
• Wearing black wrist watch
• May have on a MediAlert metal bracelet (had a tendency to remove this)
• Wearing faded blue jeans
•  Navy Blue shoes without a logo or strip (Skechers)

Habits and tendencies from the past likely to still be present

• Nancy is a “rule follower”.  She is unlikely to cross a street, especially a busy one, without a pedestrian walk sign; She is unlikely to climb a fence
•  She likes walking, but is not particularly fond of crowds.  (see below for caveats)
•  Nancy is not particularly fond of children (so, would not be drawn to an elementary school)
•  She is fond of cats – not necessarily to the point of going over and petting a strange cat, but possibly
• She is fond of parks and ponds and water fowl
•  Recognizes “Little Free Libraries” in people's front yards and may be attracted to one  

•   Our car is a green Audi station wagon and she would recognize that – so more generally, may be attracted to green cars

Behaviors probable or possible due to her Alzheimer’s Disease

• Nancy’s sense  of “personal space” has been affected, so she may not be aware that she is in a crowd
• She would be upset if someone she did not know approached her (for example, to reach out to her).  She is likely to push them away, and perhaps say “No!  Go away!"\
• It is also common for AD patients to be skittish or nervous about law enforcement – however, I have seen no evidence of this in Nancy
•  She may hesitate before going through a doorway, or, if being led, stop altogether and not go through the doorway
•  Nancy is experiencing incontinence.  She has displayed both an unawareness that she has had an accident, and conversely, embarrassment or anxiety afterwards
•   Nancy has certain phrases that she is likely to repeat: “I’m stupid”; “I can’t do anything”;  “I can’t do this”; and odd phrases that include “Kirk” (in place of some other noun)
•   Overall, she hardly speaks.  She’s not likely to answer a question verbally, and often will look at the questioner blankly.  Very unlikely to verbally ask for help.

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