WEST LOS ANGELES – These sisters are getting ready to sell their specialty salsa at the annual Move for Minds event taking place at the Equinox Fitness Club in West L.A.
The salsa recipe is their mother's.
Daughter Noemy Medina has been perfecting her "Pretty Good Salsa" to sell to make some extra cash after her mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's.
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"Help pay for any costs that may pile up in the future," said Medina.
Their mother Ermila was diagnosed last year at the age of 64. It was Easter Sunday when the sisters realized something was wrong.
The first sign was when a family member asked their mother what she brought to the potluck, and she couldn't remember that she brought her salsa. The second sign was during a conversation with Medina.
"I came outside and I was eating rice, and I told her oh my goodness this rice is so good, and she said of course, I made it. But she didn't make it. So that's like when it hit us," said Medina.
Alzheimer's develops in a new brain every 65 seconds and two-thirds of the people diagnosed with the disease are women.
The Move For Minds Event features free fitness classes, experts in brain health, and nutritional vendors. The event is put on by The Women's Alzheimer's Movement to educate and inform people on the importance of making healthy lifestyle choices to protect their brain health.
"Movement, sleep, meditation, all of these things are things we can do today short of a silver bullet to protect Alzheimer's," said Maria Shriver.
The Women's Alzheimer's Movement, or WAM for short, was founded by Shriver. The purpose is to fund research into women, because historically, they haven't been part of clinical trials resulting in a research and knowledge gap.
Shriver is encouraging women all across the country to join them in support.
"Demanding that women be part of trials, demanding that medicine be tested on women so that we can age properly and we can age with products that work for us," said Shriver.
WAM was also inspired by the story of the sisters and their mother, so they asked them to help design the official Move For Minds leggings created by athletic brand Show Me Your Mumu. The sisters all work at the retailer and together with the brand they share something in common.
"Their family was affected by their grandparent, and when they heard about our story, I guess it touched home for them," said Medina.
One hundred percent of the leggings’ sales goes to fund Alzheimer's research to hopefully get closer to a cure.
Together those affected by the disease and those who want to make an impact are moving forward.