Ralph Carmona trains for the Boston Marathon on a run through Portland’s East End on Wednesday. Brianna Soukup/Portland Press Herald

Sporting a bright yellow “End Alz” jersey, a white baseball cap and blue-green neck warmer, Ralph Carmona bounced up and down on his wiry legs, warming up for a run on a sunny but brisk morning in Portland.

As he ran uphill onto the Eastern Promenade, Casco Bay stretched out to his left, shimmering in the sun.

The 6-mile training run was a short jaunt for the 74-year-old Carmona, who qualified for the Boston Marathon for the first time this year and will be one of thousands to run the 26.2-mile course on April 21.

But the race means more for Carmona, of Portland, than for many runners.

In addition to being a personal achievement, it’s also a mission to help humanity by highlighting the value of medical research.

Carmona qualified for the event about a decade after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, a progressive and debilitating disease. Seven million people in the U.S. suffer from Alzheimer’s, including about 29,000 people in Maine.

With funding for Alzheimer’s programs and life sciences research being slashed or under threat by the Trump administration, Carmona hopes to send a message as he runs through the streets of Boston: Stop cutting support for research and restore U.S. leadership in the fight against diseases like Alzheimer’s and cancer.

“My personal problem is also a public problem for the country. You cannot disconnect the two,” said Carmona, who also is using his marathon run to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Association.

He wouldn’t be running at all if not for promising breakthroughs in medical research. One crucial turn of fate was getting into a National Institutes of Health clinical trial in Boston a decade ago to help test the effectiveness of a medication — Leqembi — that was eventually approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2023.

Ralph Carmona at his home in Portland on Wednesday. Carmona, 74, qualified for the Boston Marathon and is training. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s years ago and participated in an NIH trial which has greatly slowed the progression of the disease. Brianna Soukup/Portland Press Herald

“That drug would not have been available if not for (the NIH) research,” Carmona said. “We are dismantling research, and it’s devastating to everyone. It’s absolutely awful.”

Leqembi is the first drug approved by the FDA that has been proven to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s by an average of 27% over an 18-month period. The medication removes and stops amyloid plaque that builds up in the brain of Alzheimer’s patients.

Doctors told the Press Herald that the medication, coupled with Carmona’s healthy lifestyle, stopped the progression of amyloid plaque clumps in Carmona’s brain. The clumps, when they spread, inhibit cognitive functioning.

The Trump administration — under the leadership of Health and Human Services Secretary and anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — capped indirect costs for NIH research grants at 15%, which effectively eliminates billions of dollars in federal support for private research. Groups supporting the research community filed suit and won injunctions against the Trump administration to prevent the rules from going into place, but the administration intends to appeal, according to news reports.

Indirect costs for things like equipment, facilities and support staff vary, but made up an average of 26% for all NIH grants — totaling $35 billion nationwide — in 2023.

The Trump administration has also canceled $1.1 billion in NIH grants, cut $11 billion to state and local health departments — including $91 million in Maine — and is in the process of slashing the federal health care workforce from 82,000 to 62,000.

Two Alzheimer’s public education programs — the Healthy Brain Initiative and the Building Our Largest Dementia Infrastructure for Alzheimer’s program — are in jeopardy because of the staffing cutbacks.

“We’re absolutely concerned these staffing cuts could undermine the effectiveness of these programs,” said Jill Carney, policy director for the Maine chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association.

Carney said $3.8 billion in federal funding for Alzheimer’s research championed by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, is currently intact, but there’s much uncertainty.

“What the current situation is today may not be the situation a week from now or a month from now,” Carney said. “We are remaining vigilant, and looking for any changes that would impact our mission of ending Alzheimer’s.”

RUNNING FOR A CAUSE

The Boston Marathon does not track whether people with certain medical conditions, such as Alzheimer’s, participate in the race, marathon officials said. But it’s clearly rare for someone to qualify for the first time in their 70s, while also being diagnosed with such a debilitating disease.

Carmona qualified with a time of 4 hours, 4 minutes, which would have also qualified in the 65-70 age group. He said he believes he can break his qualifying time easily at Boston.

Ralph Carmona running through Portland’s East End on Wednesday. Carmona said he can feel his brain being stimulated while he runs. “Your mind is floating, and you come up with all kinds of ideas. It’s an electrifying feeling,” Carmona said. Brianna Soukup/Portland Press Herald

Bob Dunfey, Carmona’s friend, fellow runner and race director for the Maine Marathon, said Carmona has a lot of “positive energy.”

“He always has a smile, is upbeat, and always sees the bright side. He’s a very incredible person,” Dunfey said.

Carmona quit running in his 40s. But, inspired by his son’s Boston Marathon run in 2014, he began running again months before his initial Alzheimer’s diagnosis.

The diagnosis did not impede his motivation. Instead, he said, it only made him more determined. He watched his mother, Maria Luz, die from Alzheimer’s at age 97, after living in a deteriorated condition with the disease for about 15 years. He said he didn’t want what he saw with his mother to happen to him, or others.

Carmona said he can feel his brain being stimulated while he runs.

“Your mind is floating, and you come up with all kinds of ideas. It’s an electrifying feeling,” Carmona said.

He also maintains a healthy, Mediterranean diet, reads a lot and teaches classes at Southern Maine Community College in South Portland.

Carmona always believes he can do better, not only at running, but raising awareness about the importance of research funding for Alzheimer’s and other diseases.

“Fight the fight, do the best you can, as long as you can,” Carmona said.

To donate to the Alzheimer’s Association on behalf of Ralph Carmona’s Boston Marathon run, go to alz.org/thelongestday