I am very pleased to announce that I will be running the Virgin London Marathon 2017 for Alzheimer’s Research UK! I have never run this far before and am currently pretty daunted by the prospect, but at the same time I am very excited to be running for a cause so close to my heart.

Over 850,000 people live with Dementia in the UK and that number is rapidly rising. At £24 billion each year, dementia costs the UK economy more than cancer and heart disease combined but over two thirds of the care for Dementia patients is paid for by themselves or their family. The disease has a devastatingly relentless progression, and whilst there are medications to help slow its progression in some people, we need to find ways to delay or prevent it developing in the first place.

My family and I have seen the struggles of dementia with the passing of my Granny earlier this year, and I will be running in memory of her. Thank you in advance for your donations, however big or small, they are hugely appreciated and will power the fantastic work ARUK are doing, and will spur me over the finish line.

Alzheimer’s Research UK page: http://www.alzheimersresearchuk.org

BBC news yesterday: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-37972141

#TeamARUK #vmlm2017

I hope the below gives an indication of the impact of your donations:

• £20 pays for 1 hour of pioneering dementia research

• £100 could provide the tools for scientists to map 10,000 genes in minute detail, identifying targets for the development of new treatments

• £500 will cover the cost of a sensitive brain scan for a patient involved in a research study, tracking the effectiveness of new drug treatments, improving diagnosis and better understanding how diseases like Alzheimer’s wreak their havoc in the brain

• £1000 will pay for reagents, unique chemicals that are crucial for successfully growing cells in a laboratory ready for disease study

• £2500 will allow researchers to buy synthetically made amyloid,
  to better understand this hallmark Alzheimer’s protein in the lab

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page. 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.