By: JENNA RIMENSNYDER JUN 19, 2019 8 AM
Ten years ago, Alissa Myers, who was a college sophomore at the time, had her world turned upside down. She was told that her father, Rick, was diagnosed with Frontal Temporal Degeneration and Alzheimer’s Disease.
“My dad was diagnosed while I was in college and my sister was 14,” she said. “At the time, there was a lot of confusion about what Dementia even is.”
Her experience learning what her father was going through was powerful since all of her college friends learned just how terrible and common Alzheimer’s Disease is along with her.
In 2015, Myers decided to assemble her friends, get decked out in purple (the color of Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness) and do a pub crawl throughout SoHo for her birthday.
“My birthday and Father’s Day are days apart, so I thought it would be a great way to honor my dad,” she said.