Alzheimer’s is a disease with America increasingly in its clutches. On Saturday, participants in one of over 600 Walk to End Alzheimer’s events across the nation will gather in Suffolk to loosen the grip.

One of them will be Carrollton’s Sarah Smith, who lost her grandmother to the disease in May 2012 at 88 years of age.

Annie Ward, who suffered from Alzheimer’s for more than 16 years, had been cared for in a nursing home for 13 years before she died.

“I had her longer with Alzheimer’s than without it, because she was diagnosed when I was in the ninth grade,” 35-year-old Smith said.

She said she knew what Alzheimer’s was when doctors diagnosed her grandmother, but “I had no idea it would go on as long as it did.”

“I don’t think I fully understood how devastating the disease is,” Smith said.

The family had noticed some smaller changes before the diagnosis. “Forgetfulness, little things like that,” Smith said.

Personality changes began while Ward was still living at home with Smith and her mother. “She had bouts of frustration and aggression,” Smith said.

“She knew something was wrong, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.”

When it became “impossible” for Smith and her mother to care for Ward, they placed her in assisted living.  “It wasn’t long before she had to move to a nursing-home facility,” Smith said.

Physical symptoms soon joined the cognitive ones.  Smith said her grandmother “simply forgot how to walk and fell on her face. From that point on, she never walked again.”

By the time her grandmother died, Smith said, she was bedridden, unable to communicate and unable to eat or drink.

Smith was close to her grandmother and the loss hit her hard. “My parents divorced when I was young, so my mother, brother and myself lived with my grandparents,” she said. “Both grandparents were great influences in my life.”

Her grandmother was showing symptoms when her grandfather died at 96, Smith said. “He knew something was wrong, and when he passed, because, I think, she was already having issues, I don’t think she grasped that he was gone,” she said.

Smith’s father-in-law also was diagnosed with dementia — of which Alzheimer’s is a subset — about four years ago. Knowing what’s likely to come, she said she feels bad for her husband. She’s also concerned for their children, with dementia now on both sides of the family.

After it grew from a discussion during a session of her church’s adult Bible study group, Smith has been involved with the Walk to End Alzheimer’s for eight years.

She was a team captain and then co-chair for the Peninsula walk, and got involved with the Western Tidewater event when she moved to Carrollton.

“I always say there was nothing really I could do to help my grandmother, but this is something I can do,” she said. “I can raise money for those still living with the disease in the hopes that one day no one will have to live with the disease.”

The walk starts at Constant’s Wharf at 10 a.m. after a ceremony at 9:30 a.m. Registration is at 8:30 a.m., and registration is also available online at www.alz.org.

“I always tell people you don’t know anyone with the disease yet,” Smith said. “It might not affect you yet, but it will.”