The article tells the story of Valko's personal connection to the disease and what she is doing to raise money for the fight against it.
The Burlington Times-News is shining a spotlight on the work of an Elon senior to raise money to fight Alzheimer’s disease.
The Sept. 22 article by Tia’Lavon Hill explains that Alzheimer’s is prevalent in the family of Deighan Valko ’23, who is from Los Angeles and is majoring in political science and sociology at Elon. Her grandmother passed away in 2020 with Alzheimer’s, and her mother and her mother’s siblings are all battling the disease.
That close, personal connection to the disease is part of what has pushed Valko to be active in raising resources to battle Alzheimer’s, including serving on the planning committee for the Walk to End Alzheimer’s in Alamance County, which takes place on Saturday, Sept. 24, from 9 a.m. to noon beginning at the Historic Depot in downtown Burlington.
It will be Valko’s first walk locally, but she estimates it’s her 12 overall. The walks are important as fundraising events, but they also bring people together, Valko told the Times-News.
“It’s just symbolically a great place for the community to be together and to empathize with one another,” Valko told the Times-News. “I mean, at least if we can’t find, peace in the fact that our loved ones are, not remembering us as they pass, we can find peace in that we’re together and that we’re not alone facing, or caregiving for anyone who has this disease.”