Two years ago my mother, who lives in NZ, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. She had been living alone for about 12 years after my father died from Parkinson’s disease then had a fall and went into a Rest Home. The symptoms were slow at first, but after my wife and I returned to NZ for 18 months in ’08-’09 it became evident that her condition had progressed with acute memory loss, confusion and growing paranoia.

 

My mother-in-law had also been diagnosed 5 years previously with Alzheimer’s but was able to stay in her retirement village, supported locally by family. Sadly, last June after a struggle of 7 years, she died peacefully in the Rest Home & Hospital care facility in which my mother now resides.

 

In a recent article in The Daily Telegraph it was staggering to read how little funding is applied to Alzheimer’s research – just £50M a year compared with £590M for cancer research and £169M for heart disease research and yet, with some 1M people expected to suffer from some form of dementia within the next two years in the UK alone it is apparent that more resources need to be applied to Alzheimer’s. 

 

It is for this reason, and my personal exposure to this sad, debilitating disease, that I would like to dedicate my bike ride from Lands End to John O'Groats this May to Alzheimer’s Research.

To track progress of our bike ride you can visit our blog at
http://tickettoride2011.blogspot.com/2011/02/ticket-to-ride-is-this-crazy-idea-or.html

 

 

 

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