A Chesapeake woman is busy taking action and helping others in the battle with Alzheimer's disease, so with the help of her daughter-in-law, I surprised her with a People Taking Action award .
When we walked into Wardenia Lassiter's home with our cameras rolling, she was briefly speechless than burst out in laughter asking, "What are you doing here?" I told her I had been hearing some good things about her.
Her daughter-in-law Courtney Lassiter sent me this email, "I am nominating my mother-in-law because she lost her mother to Alzheimer's in December."
That sparked Wardenia to start raising money for an Alzheimer's walk earlier this month in Suffolk. She got a lot of her family involved as well forming Team Lorena, honoring her 88-year-old mom. Her daughter-in-law Courtney thought it was important to honor how she's been a driving force in the family's fund-raising efforts, "I want her to know that her hard work hasn't gone unnoticed."
Wardenia was surprised and grateful when we presented her with a People Taking Action award along with a $300 Visa gift card from our community partner Southern Bank, "This is great! Oh wow! That is wonderful!"
Wardenia says in the days leading up to her mom's death it was very difficult, "She started to have issues with getting lost in the community and not taking care of herself and not eating right. However we were always hopeful, because it's your mom and you always want the best....but we knew the end was coming, we could see some of the symptoms."
Wardenia who also took action volunteering with this past weekend's Alzheimers walk at the Virginia Beach oceanfront--is already talking about raising more money for next year's walk in Suffolk.
