Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

On 22nd July 2017 my wife died from a form of early onset dementia known as Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD) at the age of 66 years (24,324 days). On 6th September I will reach that exact age and I plan to mark this by running the equivalent of a marathon at the 8 parkrun and 1 junior parkrun courses along the A66 within 24 hours.  I plan to begin each parkrun at the following times: Fri 6th Sept Workington 10.00, Whinlatter Forest 11.45, Keswick 13.15, Penrith 15.15, Darlington South Park 17.45, Billingham Juniors 19.15, Tees Barrage 20.00; Sat 7th Sept Albert Park Middlesbrough 07.15, official parkrun in Redcar 09.00. Everyone is welcome to join me for one or more of the runs.

My wife was diagnosed with FTD in 2012, 18 months after her retirement as a nurse in the NHS. This answered many questions we had about things that had taken place over the previous 5 years. Following her diagnosis her decline was rapid resulting in loss of speech, an inability to swallow and for the final months she was forced to use a wheelchair. Throughout her ordeal she was always able to recognise us all and was aware until very close to the end of her life.

Since her diagnosis I have been working to raise awareness of early onset dementia and also to raise funds for dementia charities such as Alzheimer's Research UK who kindly posted our story on their blog in 2017 (https://www.dementiablog.org/eight-phases-of-ftd/).

All donations, no matter how small, would be most welcome and will help Alzheimer's Research UK in the search for treatment for all dementias.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.