Daughter honors mother's memory at Triangle Walk to End Alzheimer's in Raleigh

Participants in the annual Triangle Walk to End Alzheimer’s are back this weekend in downtown Raleigh to continue the fight against the disease.

Saturday marks the first time Campbell University graduate student Jackalyn Geraty’s first time at the event.

Geraty is on a personal mission to honor her mother and help save others from the deadly disease. She will always remember her mom, Dawn Geraty, as a person who helped others. That was part of her job as a police officer in Antioch, Illinois.

After Jackalyn Geraty left for college and returned home for a visit, she noticed changes in her mom.

"A lot of it had to do with speech and comprehension," Jackalyn Geraty said. "Those were the very first signs that I knew something was not right."

Over the course of four years, her mom’s symptoms worsened. The fifth year of the illness, Dawn Geraty was diagnosed at age 54 with "younger-onset frontotemporal dementia" or FTD.

Jackalyn’s dad became her mom’s full-time caregiver until she passed away in April 2023. She was 56.

Upon returning to Campbell College as a grad student, and soon to be married to her fiancé, Nick Campbell, Geraty organized her own team for the Triangle Walk to End Alzheimer’s.

It’s the annual fundraiser in downtown Raleigh’s Halifax Mall. Her dad will be there to help support her.

"Being so young with a mom going through it, I was really looking for support and to find a way to be surrounded by people that were going through the same thing as me," Jackalyn Geraty said.

Support is what she is likely to find at the event. It’s known for colorful pinwheel flowers honoring those, like Dawn Geraty, who died from the disease but left a lasting legacy.

"She was such an amazing person and I feel like even after she’s passed away like, through me, through what she’s been able to do to donate through science, like she’s still making such an impact," Jackalyn Geraty said. "And that’s why I started the team in her honor."

Dawn Geraty was also known for her fortitude. She had been discriminated against in the Antioch, Illinois Police Department and won a discrimination lawsuit.