Family honors parents by walking for Alzheimer's cure: 'They were amazing parents'

JENKINTOWN, Pa. - A family in Montgomery County is participating in the Philadelphia Walk to End Alzheimer’s event this November in honor of their parents, Mollie and Seymour Tinkleman.

"They were just amazing parents. We always had a good time with them," said Ilene Gallagher. "It’s on all sides of our family - mother, father. Our dad is at least one of six first cousins who have had some form of dementia/Alzheimer’s."

Gallagher, 66, and her three older siblings - Barry, Jay and Sandy - all participated in caring for their parents.

Their father, Seymour, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in his early 80s, and the disease slowly progressed until his death two years ago when he was 89.

Their mother, Mollie, continues living with some form of dementia and receives around the clock care at a memory care facility.

"My mother thought they were living in a hotel or something, and if there was a problem or something, she’d go, ‘Tell the girl at the desk to fix this,’ and I assumed she meant my sister, Ilene, who lived with them," said Barry Tinkleman. "You hate to go visit, but you have to go visit because of what was for 70 years, but you don’t want to see them in the condition that they’re in."

The family said in addition to honoring their parents, they also walk to find a cure.

"I don’t want our kids to have to go through what my parents did, what might be our near future or to have to take care of us and go through this," said Gallagher. "That’s our goal is to hopefully find a cure, find something to slow it down, whatever can be done."

"I kind of dread the idea of that happening to me. Now when I forget somebody’s name who I’ve known for a long time, I’m like, ‘Is this the beginning?’" said Barry.

Click here to support the upcoming Philadelphia Walk to End Alzheimer’s.