The Longest Day: A Local Fight To End Alzheimer's
In 2017, Stuart McLeod planned an event to honor his sister Sara, who had been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease in 2010. Five years and a quarter of a million dollars later, family, friends and locals come together every summer to bike, kayak and celebrate their loved ones who have been touched by Alzheimer’s.
The event is called The Washburn Challenge and is part of the Alzheimer’s Association’s “Longest Day,” a do-it-yourself fundraiser. It starts out with a leisurely bike ride along the Shining Sea Bikeway from North Falmouth to Woods Hole. After a break for lunch, participants head back to Mr. McLeod’s home at the head of Waquoit Bay. From there, they launch dozens of kayaks and paddle the six miles around Washburn Island together.
The entire day is topped off with a celebration featuring a barbecue, live music from the Cape Cod band Origin, an “Alzheimer’s Shucks” oyster station, courtesy of Island Creek Oysters, and a special Longest Day-branded beer from Moby Dick Brewery in New Bedford.
“It’s a blast for a great cause,” Mr. McLeod said. “The Longest Day, really the symbolism, is how long a day it is taking care of somebody with Alzheimer’s, or how long a day is when you have Alzheimer’s. It’s just something that I love doing and I am absolutely convinced that the Alzheimer’s Association is going to have more to do with the first person surviving this than any other organization.”
The event usually takes place on the longest day of the year, the summer solstice—June 21—but was delayed due to COVID. Set for Saturday, August 21, this year’s Longest Day will be in-person for the first time since 2019. That year, about $150,000 was raised for the Alzheimer’s Association. That money was put toward research, treatment and consciousness-raising.
“In 2019, we launched 100 kayakers on Waquoit Bay,” Mr. McLeod said. “People were like, ‘what’s happening here?’”
Mr. McLeod said Alzheimer’s is not on old person’s disease, noting, “This is something that you really have to be thoughtful about. We lose more people from Alzheimer’s than prostate and breast cancer combined, so we’ve got to get on this. It is a big deal and it’s going to bankrupt a lot of families”
Mr. McLeod’s older sister, Sara, battled Alzheimer’s for eight years but was there to witness the very first Washburn Challenge before her death in 2018. As children, Mr. McLeod explained, they loved playing on the water of Waquoit Bay and spent time sailing Beetle Cats and Knockabouts. And while he was not his sister’s primary caregiver, Mr. McLeod considered himself the “caregiver quarterback.”
“Before my sister died, I really just wanted to do something for friends and family, turn people on to a place she loved and I love,” he said. “That was really the dawning of it, and we’re now five years in.”
For Mr. McLeod, the most rewarding part of the entire event is bringing together people who have been affected by the disease and share his mission of raising awareness.
“It’s a whole bunch of people just coming together and it amazes me,” he said. “There isn’t anyone that this disease hasn’t affected by one or two degrees of separation. It’s here, and the older we get the more susceptible we are to it.”
The webpage for the Alzheimer’s Association’s Longest Day event provides a breakdown of how funds are used: 78 percent of funds go toward Alzheimer’s care, research, awareness and support, while 18 percent is channeled back into fundraising efforts and 4 percent goes toward administrative needs.
“The Alzheimer’s Association was amazing; without them the journey would’ve been horrible,” he said. “Just being part of a community and being part of people who are advocates on the legislative front, and urging Congress to add more money to research, to end Alzheimer’s and to figure out these degenerative nerve diseases like MS, ALS, Parkinson’s, that whole group. Anybody battling this should know all the free services and support and resources that the Alzheimer’s Association provides as part of what they do. It’s pretty neat.”
Mr. McLeod has also laid the groundwork for a new awareness-raising campaign: Longest Day-branded beer. He teamed up with Dave Slutz of Moby Dick Brewery in New Bedford and what initially started as a limited release of 25 cases from Moby Dick now has the potential to become a much bigger advocacy effort.
“We’re meeting with the [Massachusetts] Brewers Guild to try to get brewers to take one of their signature brews around the Longest Day in June and July and rename it, whether it be a Longest Day Ale, a lager or an IPA, and raising awareness with younger folks,” Mr. McLeod said. “The vibe it’s created at Moby Dick has been fantastic. We kind of did it as a test case and we both agreed that we’d love to get more exposure with the younger people.”
Mr. McLeod and Mr. Slutz will go in September before the Brewers Guild, which represents more than 200 breweries across the commonwealth, 172 of which are open to the public. While what is inside the can is up to the brewers, it is the label that really makes the difference. The purple label bears the event’s name and features the outline of Washburn Island on its logo. The blurb on the label, which explains the fundraiser’s origins and offers facts and figures about Alzheimer’s, begins with this sentiment: “If you’re holding this ‘Longest Day Lager,’ created for and inspired by The Washburn Challenge, thank you for being a part of this amazing community.”
“[Dave] said, ‘There’s really no downside to this, it’s good for everybody,’ so this is really something that we’re going to try to launch,” Mr. McLeod said. “I’m going to have 125 people here, so I’m like, ‘Hey, let’s create a little buzz about it on social media, and let’s try to get some attention.’”
While he would love for all interested to be able to attend, Mr. McLeod is wary of hosting a large crowd, as COVID is still prevalent on Cape Cod and the main part of the fundraiser is based at his home. Until there is a way to host an entirely public event for everyone safely in the future, there are alternative ways for those interested to raise funds for the cause.
“We’re probably at about 75 or 80 thousand [dollars],” Mr. McLeod said. “Everybody’s late this year, so I hope to get over $100,000. I think we’ll have a big push through the event into next week.”
Despite being the brains behind The Washburn Challenge, Mr. McLeod said this fundraising feat would not be possible without the help of the community that rallied around the cause.
“It’s amazing, people’s generosity,” he said. “The Longest Day is a wonderful event for families who want to remember loved ones, that want to celebrate their life, to pay back the Alzheimer’s Association by doing something that that person loves to do, whether it be golfing or tennis or what have you….It’s a story I love telling, I’m really proud of it and I’m really proud of everybody that participates and contributes.”