MIDLAND-ODESSA, TX (KWES) - Alzheimer's disease affects 5.5 million people in the country but it also affects many right here at home. That's why Mary Wright-McCourt is on a mission to make sure this Mother's Day, Alzheimer's patients aren't forgotten.
"I'd really been praying for another project to feel close to my dad and to my friends again," said Wright-McCourt.
Wright-McCourt is a volunteer with the Alzheimers Association, an organization she got involved with after her dad was diagnosed back in 2003. But after 14 years, he would later pass away from the disease.
"My dad has been in nursing homes since 2013," she said. "I've seen first hand the amount of women with Alzheimer's."
That's why she started a project she learned about called Angie's Babies. The project is named after Angie Clark, an Alzheimer's patient in Midland who passed away last month. The project gives women like Angie baby dolls to bring joy and smiles on their faces.
"Every time you see Angie, she had a baby," said Wright-McCourt. "She was either playing pat-a-cake with it or loving on it. These women, when they get these babies, they truly think these are their babies. When they're having a bad day, they start smiling and it soothes them down to have this baby with them."
Wright-McCourt is on a mission to gather 100 baby dolls, where they will be dropped off at ten nursing homes in the Midland Odessa area on Mother's Day.
"It's bringing love, it's bringing goodness to people," said Wright-McCourt. "There's so much negativity out in the world, so if we can spread a little bit of love and show people we care. A lot of them when they're in nursing homes, sometimes they're just forgotten. People don't visit them. So if we can walk into a nursing home and leave this baby with someone who has Alzheimer's, it's going to make them so happy."
Because even though Alzheimer's patients have forgotten, whether it's family or precious memories, it's a reminder that people like Wright-McCourt still haven't forgotten them.
If you'd like to help donate to Angie's Babies, you can get the baby dolls at stores like Walmart or Target. They run about $10. You drop them off Lisa Copeland Nationwide Insurance on 52nd and Tanglewood in Odessa. If you're in Midland, the drop-off location is at Lisa Copeland Nationwide Insurance on 4400 N Big Spring St.
You can also make a donation on PayPal to cktelecomm@sbcglobal.net.
