Taking an Alzheimer’s diagnosis ‘a mile at a time’

BY DEB HURLEY BROBST DBROBST@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Mark Macy is a ghter.

e Evergreen resident always has been driven to succeed as an attorney, an endurance athlete and a devoted family man. Now at age 69, he continues his drive to succeed in his battle against Alzheimer’s disease.

He believes that his green diet, exercise and positive attitude will help him do what many others haven’t: beat the disease.

“Some people think I’m nuts,” said Macy, 69, who everyone calls Mace. “I believe I can beat it. If I don’t, I’m still a happy guy.”

Mace has lived in Evergreen since 1980 with Pam, his high school sweetheart and wife of 46 years. Mace still runs regularly, sometimes on the family’s six-acre property and sometimes with friends who help keep him steady and on track.

When Mace got his diagnosis in 2018 — considered early-onset Alzheimer’s disease because he was 64 — the family decided it was not going to hide from the disease, friends or the community. at’s why son Travis Macy, a 2001 Evergreen High School graduate and former EHS English teacher, decided to write a book with Mace about their journey called “A Mile at a Time: A father and son’s inspiring Alzheimer’s journey of love, adventure and hope.”

Travis and Mace travel around the country speaking about Alzheimer’s disease, and they will be at the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America’s Alzheimer’s & Caregiving Educational Conference on May 17. e family also will be at the Evergreen Taphouse for a book signing that evening.

“To his credit, (Mace) decided he was not going to be ashamed of Alzheimer’s and not going to hide it,” Travis said. “He’s continued to do that, and honestly it’s turned out that his treatment has been communicating with other Alzheimer’s families.”

Dr. Allison Reiss with the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America’s Medical, Scienti c and Memory Screening Advisory Board said Alzheimer’s disease is not always obvious, especially at rst.

“We all get more forgetful, and