Running for Memories: A Journey to Fight Alzheimer's

🏃‍♀️ Running for Memories: Pleun's Race to End Alzheimer’s

Hi, I'm Pleun van Iersel, and this year I’m running the Honolulu Half Marathon for something far bigger than a medal—I'm running to protect memories.

I’m raising funds for the DB Foundation for Health Research, supporting groundbreaking Alzheimer’s research and dementia-friendly community programs. This isn’t just a run—it’s a mission deeply rooted in personal experience. I’ve witnessed the toll that neurodegenerative diseases take on individuals, families, and caregivers—and I know we can do more.

From watching my grandfather’s decline due to Parkinson’s, to working in memory clinics where multilingual patients wove stories from fragmented memories, to seeing my mother care for Alzheimer’s patients in long-term care—I’ve seen how memory loss doesn’t just erase names. It alters identities, relationships, and futures.

That’s why every step I take in Honolulu is for those who can’t—and for the hope that, one day, they will.

💜 Your donation will:

• Fund leading-edge Alzheimer’s research through the DB Foundation

• Support real-time community programs like Memory Cafés

• Empower caregivers and reduce isolation through education and innovation

• Honor the millions living with memory loss today—and protect the memories of tomorrow

🌸 Give a Gift That Grows Hope

As a special thank you, for every donation over $50 I will mail you a Forget-Me-Not pin—a meaningful symbol in the dementia community.

The Forget-Me-Not flower has long represented remembrance and enduring connection. In the context of Alzheimer’s, it’s become an international emblem of awareness and hope. These delicate blue blooms remind us that even as memories fade, the essence of a person—their impact, their story, their worth—remains.

Wear it in honor of someone you love. Wear it as a promise to never forget those navigating memory loss.

Let’s build a world where we don’t lose loved ones twice—once to the disease, and once to death.

🏁 Help me cross the finish line with purpose.

Donate now. Let’s run for those who can’t remember—and create memories that last a lifetime.