My brother Stephen and I, were meant to run the London Marathon together in April 2020 in memory of our Nan (Mum’s Mum) and our other Nan (Dad’s Mum) who is currently living with Alzheimer’s.

Now it’s been postponed and while we wait until October, we’ve decided to do a virtual challenge, to run two marathons in two days on treadmills running 4 miles every 4 hours for 48 hours day and night.

When we were teenagers, we had no experience of dementia and when our Nan developed vascular dementia following a stroke, we couldn’t believe the change in her. It’s hard enough at any age but as kids, watching her disappear before our eyes was heartbreaking and we had no idea how to deal with it.

When we were in our early 20’s, she passed away at her care home and even though it felt like we lost her years earlier, it didn’t make the pain any easier. She was a big part of our lives and it left a massive hole in our hearts.

Almost two years ago, our Dad’s mum - who’s in the picture with us and our daughters was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and although we had a better understanding, it didn’t make it any easier. Imagine the person you’ve grown up with, slowly forget you ever existed – it’s devastating.

Alzheimer’s Society helped our Nan with supportive care and provided us with information about what to do next and it’s one of the reasons why we want to raise funds for this great cause. They also fund research into these diseases and that’s the only way we’ll ever come closer to stopping it or slowing it down.

But it’s not just our Nan’s who are the reason we want to run. Me and Steve have been inseparable since the day he was born, 13 months after me. We’re also Dad’s to two beautiful girls Ivy and Thea, who were born 9 months apart.

We’ve witnessed some of the worst things imaginable with our grandparents and I would do anything for our girls not to go through what we had to. They are our motivation to succeed at this. We want them to grow up where dementia isn’t stigmatised, where people don’t feel sorry for you when you get a diagnosis and people aren’t afraid to talk about it.

So even if you can only donate even a £1, it’ll make a huge difference, not just to our family – but families across the UK that are going through what can only be described as a rollercoaster of emotion.

Thank you!