I signed up to do this trek back in February, and it has taken me all of this time to pluck up the courage to write this profile... So, here goes...

On 12th January 2018 I turned 39 and I sat in the Memory Clinic at Llandough Hospital in Cardiff with my Mum and my sisters, whilst my Mum was told she had Alzheimer's. Fast forward a year and I had turned 40 (the same age my Mum was when she had me) and I created a 40 for 40 list. On this list, I had said that I wanted to do a physical challenge as I'd never done one before. I decided I wanted to do something for my Mama and the Alzheimer's Society seemed the right fit. Some of my lovely pals said they'd help me, and signed up. At the moment there are 11 of us, so if we all reach our target of £300 we'll raise £3600 - but it looks like we might make over £4K! 

My Mum had a fall the day before my 40th and wasn't able to come to my birthday party. When we spoke on the phone that morning, I told her it was my 40th and she didn't realise and she sobbed whilst telling me about her fall and telling me that she just couldn't come and it was one of the few times I have witnessed her cry. I spent the rest of the morning of my birthday crying for her. 

Alzheimer's is a real shitbag of a disease. Utterly devastating. By the time people are my Mum's age (she be 81 in September) 1 in 6 people have dementia. With an ageing population - we need to kick this in the dick. I know the money we raise won't necessarily help my Mum, but if it helps fund research and helps people in the future, that would make me really unbelievably happy. 

I feel sad quite a lot at the moment, and sometimes guilty. Wishing I'd taken her on more holidays. Lots of wishing. My Mum has had a bit of a tough time later in life. Divorcing my Dad just over a decade ago and then losing her house and business a couple of years later when the family business went bust. She's had a whole lotta stress in her life and then the loneliness set in. But I think, we still had more than so many people ever have and we were, we are lucky. So very lucky. 

My Mum has always been so sociable, often making friends with complete strangers in a supermarket queue. When I was young, I was forever collecting pen pals when we went on holidays as she'd make new best pals with someone. When she was six, her little brother Gareth died of TB during the war and when she was 16 she went to train to be a nurse in a TB hospital, against her parents wishes. How cool is Mama Kinch?! She's still cool. Glimpses of that personality often shine through. She's still an insatiable flirt. She always had quite a spell-like impact on other people. I once saw a man mount his car on a kerb because he was winking at my Mum and not concentrating on his driving. She still manages to get her flirt on whenever she can, most recently when the fire service were fitting the flat she lives in with fire alarms. 

My Mum spent so many years as a nurse and as a mother and wife caring for others, I guess this is a little bit of something I feel I can help contribute back to others in some small way. This will help fund research into a cure, and will help the Alzheimer's Society continue the amazing work they do. It is incredible how small a person's world becomes when they have dementia. Alzheimer's Society help make the world for people with dementia and their families a much kinder place. 

If you'd like to join team Mama Kinch and do the trek with us, we'd love to have you. If not, a donation would be so greatly received. 

Big love to you all.

Kinch + Team Mama Kinch.