ALEC BROWN 

Hello! My name is Alec Brown. I’m a junior at Western Kentucky University majoring in Mathematics and Economics. Brownsburg, Indiana is my home town.

I choose to participate in this ride because of the impact Parkinson's disease has had on my family, and the general lack of awareness of debilitating diseases like Alzheimer's amongst the general public. My grandfather developed Parkinson’s early on in my life. Seeing the disease develop in him through his loss of social skills, memory, or ability to do the things he loves to do has been very difficult for my entire family.

However, we have been blessed in that there are some experimental treatments for Parkinson’s that have improved his prospects and daily life. A patient of Alzheimer's now has the same "treatment" plan as the first patient did in 1905. The reason this ride exists is to help further the current medical research of the disease to find a cure, and to increase awareness of the disease in the general community. I want to do my part in this fight, and since I'm not a biology major this is the best thing I can do to affect change in this area.