Dad (Ralph) and 22 year old daughter (Grace) running the London Marathon in support of ParkinsonsUK and in memory of mother-in law/Granny, Angela Kelly who died from Parkinsons in 2021. 

Angela suffered from this for many years, however the final 6 to 9 months were particularly traumatic for her and opened our, and my family’s eyes, to the true, cruel nature of this disease. It made us, suggested by Grace, determined to do something about it both from an awareness and fund-raising perspective. 

The most harrowing aspect of this, above and beyond the physical suffering, was the mental dementia and psychosis Angela suffered from.  The details of this are private, but I can assure you that it caused a great deal of emotional pain and had a dramatic and haunting affect on all the family.  Watching someone you love slowly disappear was heart breaking.  None of us has had realised this element of the disease, although when we researched it, we realised it was very common.  It also made us aware of the need for skilled, specialist support and ultimately a cure.

We strongly believe in the mission of Parkinson's UK to find a cure and improve life for the Parkinson's community.  Between us Grace and I aim to raise £20,000.  We already have an an incredibly generous "cornerstone" commitment of £5,000 from a Charitable Trust and we would be grateful for any pennies, euros, dollars etc you can spare to help achieve this mission. If you are a UK tax payer please also add gift aid which adds 25% to your donation.  Thank-you so much.

Ralph and Grace