Greenport runner takes on NYC Marathon to support Alzheimer’s fight

When Deja Hursey lines up for the New York City Marathon on Nov. 1, the Greenport resident will be running 26.2 miles for a cause that has touched her own family: Alzheimer’s disease.

Ms. Hursey, a Peconic Landing employee, will run on behalf of the Alzheimer’s Association, raising money and awareness for a disease that claimed her great-grandmother and later affected her step-aunt.

“To be able to fight for a cause and show awareness is unbelievable,” Ms. Hursey said. “I am truly honored and grateful to be a part of it. It’s very fulfilling.”

Ms. Hursey, 29, grew up in Maryland. She was about 5 when her great-grandmother, Florence Brown, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s at the age of 75.

Ms. Brown lived with the disease for more than a decade, becoming increasingly forgetful and requiring significant assistance. She died at 86.

“I remember being young and not understanding the toll of the disease,” she said. “It really took a toll on the family, and I saw that as such a young kid.”

Then, five years ago, her step-aunt was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia at 55. The disease progresses rapidly and forced her to medically retire from her job with the Federal Reserve.

Now 60, she is being cared for by Ms. Hursey’s grandparents.

“I’ve seen it in the later stages of life, in an 80-year-old woman, my great-grandmother, and then in a 50-year-old person who was very smart, educated, a mother of three,” Ms. Hursey said. 

Since joining Peconic Landing as a recruitment coordinator in 2024, Ms. Hursey has also worked closely with the Alzheimer’s Association. The Greenport retirement community hosts an annual two-mile walk to raise money and awareness for the disease.

The walk is organized by the association’s Long Island chapter, and is part of a year-long effort to raise $140,000. So far this year, over $120,000 has been raised.

Ms. Hursey ran her first marathon in May, the Long Island Marathon at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow. She got the itch to do it again.

When she learned she could run for a cause, the idea took hold.

“When I thought about a charity that I feel connected to, and that I want to be a part of their journey, I immediately thought, ‘I would love to support the Alzheimer’s Association and run for them,’” she said. 

She submitted her paperwork over the summer but was initially waitlisted.

Rather than wait for an answer, Ms. Hursey began training for the 51st annual Marine Corps Marathon, slated for Sunday, Oct. 25, which winds through Arlington, Va., and Washington, D.C.

By the first week of August, she was well into that training plan when she learned she had been accepted into the New York City Marathon.

“I was like basically one week off the plan,” she said. “ But I decided I have to do New York City. That opportunity doesn’t come often.”  

Her family and friends will be stationed along the route at several mile markers to cheer her on.

The Alzheimer’s Association immediately sent her care packages with pamphlets, bib pins and branded items, like a New Balance racer top.

“I will definitely be decked out in Alzheimer’s gear,” she laughed.