Story
Over the past few years, Alzheimer’s has become something incredibly personal to me and my family because of my grandad, who is currently living with the condition. Watching somebody you love slowly change because of Alzheimer’s is one of the hardest things to experience. It affects not only the person living with it, but also the people around them who slowly watch somebody they love become more distant from the things and people that once meant so much to them.
My grandad has supported Exeter City F.C. for over 50 years and has spent most of his life going to games at St James Park. Football has never just been a hobby to him, it has always been a huge part of who he is. He’s the person who first got my mum going to matches when she was younger and later introduced me to football too, taking me to my first Exeter games alongside my mum. From there, my mum carried that on throughout my childhood, taking me and my friends to games over the years and creating memories and friendships that became a huge part of all of our lives growing up. Some of the happiest memories from my childhood came from those days and it all started because of my grandad.
I remember him being able to speak about football for hours without ever getting bored. He always had stories to tell, memories to speak about and opinions on every match. I still remember him giving me stacks of old football newspapers he had collected over the years and sitting there for hours going through them together. He also used to take me down to the local park to play football and looking back now, I honestly wish I appreciated those moments more at the time because they are now some of the memories I hold onto the most.
Outside of football, my grandad has always been somebody who showed kindness, warmth and care to everybody around him. Alongside him is my nan, who has been married to him for over 50 years. My nan and grandad are genuinely two of the most loving and selfless people I know and they have helped me in more ways than I could ever explain. My nan has always been the kind of person who puts everybody else before herself and no matter what has happened, she has always been there for the people she loves.
This walk is also for my mum, because without her continuing the tradition of taking me and my friends to football throughout our childhoods, so many of the memories and friendships we all share today would never have existed. Through football, she brought all of us closer together and created memories I know we will hold onto for the rest of our lives. Even when me and my friends stopped going to football as much, she still continued going to games with my grandad because it was something they bonded over together. Seeing how strong both my mum and nan have been throughout my grandad’s illness and everything our family has gone through has made me incredibly proud of them both.
Because of Alzheimer’s, my grandad is now unable to attend games and football is not as familiar to him as it once was, despite it being such a huge part of his life for decades. Watching somebody who introduced you to something they loved so deeply slowly lose connection with it is incredibly difficult.
The reason I’ve chosen to do this walk is not only to raise money and awareness for Alzheimer’s, but also to remind people to appreciate their loved ones and the moments they share together because life can change so quickly. I also know the effect my grandad has had on so many people’s lives because of the kind and caring person he is. For somebody who gave me, my mum and my friends some of the best memories of our lives, I wanted to do something meaningful not only for him, but for every family affected by this condition.
Because of this, on the 8th of August, me and a group of my friends will be starting at my nan and grandad’s house and walking around 27 miles all the way to St James Park, Exeter, to raise money for Alzheimer’s Research UK in support of my grandad and everybody affected by Alzheimer’s. Starting the walk from their house makes this even more personal to me because it’s where so many of these memories began.
Any donation, no matter how small, would genuinely mean so much to me and my family and would help support the fight against Alzheimer’s. Even simply sharing this page and helping raise awareness would mean the world to us.
Thank you to everybody supporting us.
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