It has been two years since the disappearance of Shin Noh and his family has begun to come to terms with the fact that the 66-year-old Alzheimer's patient is likely no longer alive.
But that has not stopped Sam Noh, Shin's son, from constantly scanning the faces of anyone that remotely resembles his father that he passes on the street.
"Even when I am driving and I see an older Asian dude — I still do it — I still look," he said during an interview at his Port Moody fitness training business. "It's just one of those things, like, what if?"
In the days after Shin wandered away from his Coquitlam home, search crews were dispatched across the region.
Volunteers were posted at Starbucks and McDonald's, two places Shin was known to visit, and signs were put up all over the Tri-Cities and beyond. They also organized walks in various neighbourhoods, which were then plotted using Google maps, and Sam said he often jumped into his car to driver around searching for his father.
But without a body or any solid indication of where Shin went, Sam said his family has had difficulty finding closure.
"There is no evidence and it is so perplexing," he said. "After two years it still bothers me… It is always on the tip of your mind wondering what the heck happened. Is today the day I'm going to get a call?"
Next Saturday (Sept. 19), Sam, his family and a group of search volunteers that have since become friends, will hold the 2nd Annual Walk for Shin to raise awareness about Alzheimer's and the B.C. Silver Alert.
The B.C. Silver Alert (www.bcsilveralert.ca) is an online tool that was created by Coquitlam Search and Rescue manager Michael Coyle. It uses Lower Mainland police missing person information about elderly, people with Alzheimer's, dementia and developmental disabilities who go missing and spreads the word about their disappearance through social media.
Sam said the website has been utilized numerous times in the past year. With these new resources, he added that he hopes nobody else has to go through what his family has dealt with in the last two years.
"The issues of Alzheimer's is not going away," he said. "Wandering is definitely not going away. We don't have a solution yet."
WALK FOR SHIN
The Walk for Shin will be held on Saturday, Sept. 19 — almost two years to the day Shin No disappeared — and will start at 9 a.m. at Eagle Ridge United Church (2813 Glen Drive). Refreshments will be served at 9 a.m. followed by announcements and a prayer at 9:30 a.m.
The walk commences at 10 a.m. along a route Shin took when he left home. There is a Facebook page that can be found by searching 2nd Annual Walk for Shin.
