DETROIT _ Nakiya Hamilton was grateful.
Truly, she was.
And the Warren resident knew how the Christmas shopping spree sponsored by the Detroit Pistons and the Alzheimer's Association would go.
Players would arrive at the Meijer on 8 Mile and be distant.
Oh, they would pose dutifully for photos and respectfully shake hands Sunday afternoon
But meaningful interaction?
No way.
Those aren't negative thoughts; she just knows how it goes.
And since she quit a well-paying job to become the primary caregiver of her mother, Rosa, who has suffered from dementia since a stroke in 2016, whatever the event provided would have been enough.
She wasn't prepared for Pistons veteran point guard Tim Frazier.
Frazier was accompanied by his mother, Janice.
Frazier grabbed a shopping cart and escorted Nakiya and Rosa through the aisles.
He knew exactly what Rosa needed.
"I KNOW you need this," Frazier said with understanding as he put the item in the cart.
His grace floored Nakiya.
"He was really sincere," she recalled Monday afternoon over the phone. "He knew what she needed.
"I really didn't have to tell him because they'd been through it."
As they shopped, Tim and his mother told Nakiya of Anna Duffy, who died in 2008.
Frazier's grandmother suffered with Alzheimer's disease in her final years.
The memory of good times with Duffy is why through his time at Penn State and his many NBA stops _ he's played with six franchises since his rookie season in 2014-15 _ he's tried to raise Alzheimer's awareness.
"Just to know that there's somebody with his status, wanted to give back and then tells us his story? It was like, wow. There are people who really care," Hamilton said.
"They do need to get the word out more. It's a closet disease, they call it an old people's disease. No, it's not. It's a disease that needs awareness."
