Running a marathon is a daunting challenge, but after some cajoling and peer pressure, Team Marrow-thon has come together, inspired by the story of our wonderful Dad, Chris. All illnesses are inherently cruel and Alzheimer’s disease, in its leisurely, degrading way is no different.

Our team is Alex, Abi, Ben and Dave, who is most nobly running as a representative for his wife, Elspi.

For those who don’t know, Chris - our Dad, Dave’s Father-in-law - was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s in 2019, aged 56. Spotting dementia in a dad can be tricky - aren’t all dads forgetful? - and Alzheimer’s disease, the most common cause of dementia, starts in the brain many years before symptoms start showing. Astonishingly, one in three people born in the UK today will develop dementia in their lifetime.

For Dad, significant signs of memory loss started appearing when he was only 52. What makes Dad’s form of Alzheimer’s particularly unusual is its early onset. Dementia is not something that only affects the elderly, it can strike far earlier than you think. Around 5% of people with Alzheimer’s disease are under 65.

Another victim of early-onset Alzheimer’s was Dad’s mum, our Granny Hilda. But there was no genetic link. Dad was adopted, a cruel reminder that Alzheimer’s can affect anyone. Arguably Stoke-on-Trent’s finest paintress of pottery (in The Potteries no less!), Granny Hilda was a glamorous party-goer, as excited by the bingo as she was by the prospect of having grandchildren. Her four grandchildren were able to meet her many times before she died in 1998, but sadly she never got to know us.

Alzheimer’s Society, the charity we are raising money for through running the London Marathon, is on a mission to stop dementia devastating lives. It provides vital support to those who need it, holds decision-makers to account and funds groundbreaking research to transform the future for everyone living with dementia.

Sadly, Dad is on a slow path where the glimpses of his former self become fewer and further between. But it is a decline punctuated by magical moments - his miraculous comic timing, any time he spends with Robin and Flynn, his grandsons, celebrating a Stoke City goal (quite rare these days), and those occasions when you play a record by The Smiths, Carole King or XTC and he somehow knows all the words. Dad is the same person he always was, but more and more often Alzheimer’s steals him away.

And he fights back. Dad has participated in several trials, seeking to help people learn more about the disease and particularly how it affects those with early onset. These range from studies analysing better ways to diagnose cognitive problems to invasive assessments using ‘ultra powerful’ MRI scanners to look at brain deterioration. Dad spent a whole year injecting himself in the stomach three times a day as part of a placebo-controlled drug trial.

Alzheimer’s has been cruel to Dad and Granny, but it is a disease that is also incredibly hard on the immediate carer. In our case, that’s Grandad George and our simply fabulous Mum, Edwina. We have seen first hand how much work, care and attention dementia can demand and that is a burden that falls almost entirely on Mum’s shoulders.

If you are able to make a donation, no matter how big or small, we would be extremely grateful.

So let’s do this for Dad, Granny, Grandad and of course, Mum.

Thank you,

Team Marrow-thon (Alex, Abi, Ben and last but absolutely not least… Dave)