COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) ABC 17 News Anchor Meghan Drakas is sharing her family's experience with Alzheimer's disease along with other members of the ABC 17 family, in the leadup to Columbia's Walk to End Alzheimer's on Saturday. My grandmother Barbara Early was born in 1938 in the suburbs of Philly.
She was a mother, grandmother, wife, homemaker, secretary and life of the party. Barbara Early at a wedding in Pennsylvania on May 1, 1993. [From the Drakas family] I have memories of her picking me up from preschool and asking her for French fries from the Burger King drive-thru.
Years later, she taught me how to knit while we watched soap operas in her living room. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2013 when she was 75 years old, but she didn't let the disease define her. She continued to spend time with her husband, children and grandchildren until the very end when she lost her battle in January 2021.
Barbara Early (left) pictured with her husband Gene Early along with Meghan Drakas and her sister Abby Drakas [From the Drakas family] Like me, many others at ABC 17 News have lost their loved ones to this crippling disease. Creative Services Director Mark Kammerich lost his father Edwin to Alzheimer's Disease in 2016. Mark remembers his father as always being there to help out when he needed advice.
Mark Kammerich's father, Edwin Kammerich [Submitted by Mark Kammerich] Kammerich said his dad helped others by sharing his time and talent for a variety of repairs including applian.