My godfather, Bob Sweet, has a diagnosis of Frontotemporal Dementia, and I would like to raise awareness of this horrible disease, as well as contributing to much needed research.

His daughter Laura, who is running the London Marathon for the same cause, has put it far better than I can:

"The National Brain Appeal is the charity dedicated to raising much needed funds for The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in Queen Square, London.

The National is one of the world’s leading centres for the diagnosis, treatment and care of patients with a wide range of neurological disorders and neuromuscular conditions including dementia, multiple sclerosis, brain tumours, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, stroke, Prion disease, and head injury.

Why am I supporting The National Brain Appeal?

As many of you will know my dad, Bob, was diagnosed with behavioural variant Frontotemporal Dementia (also known as Pick's Disease) in November 2012, and therefore, of particular interest to me is the work the National Brain Appeal does for this poorly understood form of dementia for which there is currently no treatment or cure. 

Aside from raising money for this great cause, my other aim for taking part in this Marathon is to raise general awareness of Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD), which does not receive much press and is barely known about compared to other forms, such as Alzheimer's. Lots of people say that they know someone who has Alzheimer's so know what we are going through, but this is a totally different disease, although put in the same category of 'dementia' as they both involve the loss of brain cells."

Thanks for reading!