A Family's Story in Slide Show and Photos from the Point Beach Memory Walk

Jennifer Fleming decided she had to do something besides sit home and watch Alzheimer's chip away at her father's body, mind and spirit.

So she recruited every relative and friend she could find to walk in the Alzheimer's Association Memory Walk in Point Beach this past Saturday. began and ended at the band shell on Arnold and Baltimore avenues.

About 20 members of Team Strassheim raised about $1,200 to help fight the disease that is taking her father, Bill Strassheim, away, one little piece at a time.

"He was diagnosed about five years ago," Fleming recalled. "It started with dementia. This past summer, he had a mini-stroke in Virginia. Ever since then, he's declined.

"It's really hard on him, he's a strong Marine," Fleming said, sadly. "And it's a lot on my mom.

"But he was happy and excited on Saturday to have the whole family there and everyone around him," said Fleming.

"I was really worried about how he would be that day, but he was good," she said on Thursday.

She added that her father could not participate in the walk because "he's a little wobbly on his feet." But he sat with his wife, Nancy Strassheim, and two of his grandchildren while the rest of the family walked.

Fleming now lives in Toms River with her husband and children. Her parents live in Brick and her brother, Bill Strassheim, Jr., lives with his family in Point Borough.

Fleming grew up in Brick, where her parents still live. Her mother, Nancy Strassheim, grew up on Atlantic Avenue in Point Beach, where she lived for many years.

Fleming said her father can no longer work at Heim Electronics, on Route 88, next to Wal-Mart.

"He has good days and bad days," she said. "He's a super great guy. It's just really sad, what's happening to him."

Both of Bill Strassheim's parents died from Alzheimer's.

In the slide show and photographs, Team Strassheim members are wearing the light blue T-shirts that say "Team Strassheim" on the back (visible in some of the shots).

The older gentleman in many of the slides is Bill Strassheim who, in one of the slides, is walking with his wife.

Fleming has short hair and sunglasses. She is in one picture with her sister, Dawn Cicardo, with long, blond hair, also of Toms River.

Other team members live in Brick, Brielle and the Forked River section of Lacey.

Walkers were either solo or part of a team in the three-mile, noncompetitive walk that included entertainment, food and prizes.

All walkers were asked to make a personal donation and raise funds for the Alzheimer’s Association's care, support and research programs.

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, Alzheimer’s disease is the nation’s sixth leading cause of death. Five million Americans are living with the disease and there are more than 11 million who are caregivers.

For more information about the association, visit the the association's web site.