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Photo courtesy of Jessica Miller.
Catherine Poellnitz.
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Photo courtesy of Jessica Miller.
Cole Tenner and his grandfather.
Catherine Poellnitz, a Vestavia Hills resident and Alzheimer’s advocate participated in The Longest Day on June 20, the day of the summer solstice, and the longest day of the year, to honor her grandmother who died of Alzheimer’s disease when Poellnitz was in middle school. Poellnitz remembered how hard it was to visit the nursing home and see her grandmother eventually not recognize anyone but her grandfather. Her grandfather, “…was always a light spot in the darkness of the whole disease,” recalled Poellnitz. He would visit her and feed her at least one meal a day. “She lit up right as he came in the room and just being able to see that happen made things easier,” said Poellnitz.
“When I was asked about fundraising for the Alzheimer’s Association, I immediately said yes because one of their biggest goals is looking for a cure, looking for something that can help the disease, doing research and fundraising,” said Poellnitz.
The Longest Day, facilitated by the Alzheimer’s Association, raises critical funds and awareness to advance Alzheimer’s Association care, support and their research programs.
Poellnitz is a youth group leader at St. Stephen’s Episcopal church in Vestavia Hills and she decided to get the youth involved in the fundraiser with her. The seventh through ninth graders competed against the 10th through 12th graders in a battle called Penny Wars. “I think it’s so nice to think that something so small like even a penny could help towards this wonderful association that’s trying to fight Alzheimer’s,” said Poellnitz.
The youth group typically meets Wednesday and Sunday nights, which would provide Poellnitz with a time to remind the youth to collect change, but due to COVID-19, the youth group isn’t meeting in person anymore. “I’ve talked to some of the youth and they have their own jars to collect donations in and then will put them all in the big jar,” said Poellnitz.
Alzheimer’s disease touched Poellnitz’s family when her grandmother passed, but it continues to be a source of fear today. Even as a young adult, Poellnitz is worried about showing early signs of dementia. Whenever she misplaces her keys, she is reminded that any type of forgetfulness could be a sign of Alzheimer’s disease. “I feel silly because it’s something so simple, but it’s definitely a concern,” said Poellnitz.
“The Alzheimer’s Association is amazing. The work that they do for research and looking for a way to find a cure and fundraising for those things -- it’s amazing and I look forward to continuing to help them any way that I can,” said Poellnitz.
16-year-old Cole Tenner, also a Vestavia Hills resident, chose to participate in The Longest Day to honor his grandfather who died of Alzheimer’s disease when Tenner was only seven years old. Tenner recalls that his grandfather’s Alzheimer’s disease started to get bad when Tenner was only four or five years old. Because of this, Tenner never connected with his grandfather and doesn’t remember him much at all. “I was just thinking about how all of my friends get to go hang out with their grandfathers and go fishing with them. I never really got to do that, so I wanted to do something about it,” said Tenner.
Tenner knew that he wanted to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Association even before he knew about The Longest Day. When he emailed the Alzheimer’s Association to ask about fundraising, a representative told him about The Longest Day and that was the beginning of his fundraising journey.
“On June 9 at midnight, I started a 24-hour live stream of myself playing video games on Twitch and all of the donations went straight to the Alzheimer’s Association because I used the link,” explained Tenner. At first, the only people who donated were family members, but Tenner had an idea. He joined a larger Twitch streamer’s stream who goes by the username iSpotYouDrop. “I asked…if he would like to help me with it and he said he was closely affected by Alzheimer’s as well, so he came in and donated some and participated,” said Tenner.
As a young person, Tenner supports the Alzheimer’s Association because he wants to promote the research. “We have 40, 50, or 60 years of our age before we can even get diagnosed with this disease, so I want to try and do something before that can even happen to me. I don’t want that to happen,” said Tenner.
Tenner’s grandfather was always a leader to his children and grandchildren, but Tenner barely got to experience how wonderful his grandfather was. “There’s always been that deep void missing there that we never had filled,” Tenner said.
Submitted by Jessica Miller.