My grandparents, Gamma and Papa are wonderful, loving people who have always been there for me throughout my life. They are positive, encouraging and inspire me to be the best person I can be. Several years ago, they were both diagnosed at the RICE centre with forms of dementia and as a family, we have struggled with the debilitating effects of this illness. Sometimes we make light of it, like when Papa calls three times to let us know that they have run out of gin, or when Gamma is overly protective of her cake! Sometimes its more upsetting like when Papa calls the police or Gamma asks "Who are you?". Despite their difficulties, my grandparents are still the central focus of the family and a big part of our lives.

The RICE centre has been there to support and treat my grandparents whilst also supporting us as a family and helping us to understand this disease. I love my grandparents very much and am hoping to raise money for the RICE centre to thank them for their support and to fund future research and support for other families.



There are an estimated 670,000 people living with dementia in the UK and as the population ages this figure is expected to increase; however, there is currently no cure and no new drugs have been licensed to treat the disease since 2002.The impact of dementia can be devastating both for the person diagnosed with the disease and for family, friends and the wider community. Awareness of dementia has grown significantly and whilst this adds pressure to increase publicly funded research, the demands on public money mean its unlikely to be at the scale the problem requires.At RICE we know we cannot afford to wait and have launched the DementiaPlus Appeal to raise £1.23million by 2019 to further develop our research programme.