Story
Thank you SO much for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page. I know everyone seems to be doing this these days but we've all got stories to tell and reasons for us giving... I need your help.
My Grandma passed away on 1st November last year having suffered terribly with dementia for a number of years. There are few things more heartbreaking than watching someone you love so dearly (I was very close to her) lose their memory, slowly fade way and forget their entire life. You're left with a confused, scared person who doesn't recognise anyone anymore. Unable to be comforted, unable to be reasoned with and who dies so utterly alone and very often undignified. It is an atrocity that modern healthcare is appalling when it comes to those suffering with dementia. They are often restrained and the treatment they receive further confuses them and deteriorates their dementia.
But the Contented Dementia Trust, who I adopted last year as my corporate charity partner, does just remarkable things. Dementia doesn't have to be this way. They are pioneering a unique way of understanding and dealing with those suffering with dementia and perhaps more importantly, those who care for them. They have the most beautiful old hospital building that they fought to get, nestled in the picturesque Cotswold village of Burford.
But the building is old and hugely under-utilised. There are scores of rooms that are empty because the charity's team is so small that they just don't have the resources available to make the building work for them. People suffering with dementia and their families and healthcare professionals all come to the Contented Dementia Trust for respite, courses, day care and training. They have great plans and are ready to move the charity forwards, to grow the charity and spread further the remarkable work that they do.
But the building desperately needs a make over. I need man power - people - paint, wood, tools and plants to decorate rooms, spruce up communal areas, tidy the garden, move abandoned hospital equipment to utilise rooms, repair roofs and walls and generally give them a calm, inspiring, relaxing, professional and happy place to work and be. As with most charities, they are too busy doing the great things that the charity is about and it's up to people like us to fill in the gaps and provide for them.
If everyone I knew gave just £1, I would double my target.
But my plea goes further than £1. If you are available on 28th or 29th June 2014, for any time at all to come to Burford and offer your mind, your hands and your strength, I would be forever grateful. We will all be old and the prevalence of dementia and Alzheimers is on the increase due to neurological pressures we face in the modern world. If I get dementia, I want to have a place like the Contented Dementia Trust. Please help.
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