5 Malls, 4 Cities, 1 Run for Alzheimer’s- Forum Hosting India’s 1st Ever Run for Alzheimer’s Awareness-‘The Purple run 2017’
Mangaluru: The Forum is hosting ThePurpleRun with NIMHANS, India’s biggest run for Alzheimer’s awareness on the 24th of September 2017 across Five malls at the same time. Alzheimer’s, the most common form of dementia, is the 5th leading cause of death in people over 55 years of age, and in India, more than 4 million people suffer from various forms of this illness. Despite this, there’s a stigma attached to mental illnesses amongst us.
The Purple Run will be organized at all 5 Forum Malls across 4 cities and will kick off at once on 24th September at The Forum Fiza Mall in Mangaluru, The Forum Mall in Koramangala, The Forum Neighbourhood Mall in Whitefield, The Forum Vijaya Mall in Chennai and The Forum Sujana Mall in Hyderabad. With over 10,000 people set to run for Alzheimer’s Awareness, at the same time, all over South India, this will be the first of its kind.
The Purple Run offers 4 categories of running distances – 3 km (Family Run), 5 km, 10 km and the half marathon distance of 21km, giving each participant an opportunity to run in their comfort zone. The Run starts from the respective malls and culminates at the same venue. The roads of Mangaluru will be graced by some of the finest long-distance athletes from across the city along with other running enthusiasts who will put their best foot forward to achieve the desired goals.
Briefing about Alzheimer’s for the media persons, Dr Prof A Thrimoorthy, head of the department of psychiatric social work of NIMHANS said, ” Alzheimer’s disease is a disorder of the nervous system that progressively affects memory and brain functions.The disease is the most common form of dementia, which results in the loss of intellectual and social skills in an individual. People in the beginning stages of Alzheimer’s are known to experience confusion, difficulty in remembering incidences and people. The disease sets in gradually and affects the individual progressively resulting in a steady decline in memory, mental functions, social-cognitive skills and increased confusion.
“Alzheimer’s is caused by brain cell death. It is a neurodegenerative disease, which means there is progressive brain cell death that happens over a course of time. The total brain size shrinks with Alzheimer’s – the tissue has progressively fewer nerve cells and connections. The very nature of the symptoms can be confusing for both a patient and the people around them, with different levels of severity. For this reason, and because symptoms could signal any of a number of diagnoses, it is always worthwhile seeing a doctor,” added Dr Thrimoorthy.
Also speaking, Fayaz M H, Assistant Centre Manager of Forum Mall said, “Since its inception, the Forum group has been conducting many programmes for good causes. The Purple Run is one-of-a-kind which will create awareness on Alzheimer’s. We hope to see a large number of participants run on September 24 for a good cause. There are cash prizes for over Rs. 6 lakhs and gift hampers to be won; the highest being Rs.35,000/- for the first place in the 21km run, and Rs.20,000/- for the 10km run. The runners in the 3km and 5km categories will win gift hampers. And remember, this Run is not for just the trained people-This Run is for everyone! So register and join in the Fun Run for a good cause.”
