Raising Over ￡2000 for Alzheimer's Research and What it Means to Me

On the 2nd?January 2016, we lost Gwen Garrett, known to me as Granny.?

This was particularly tough as it was one day after her Husband’s, my Grandpa’s, birthday, and just 6 months before they would have celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary (60 years!)

Who knows quite how long she was suffering from Dementia? It creeps up on someone and, in Granny’s case, it was possible for a while to imagine her rather random answers could be the result of not hearing the question. (She was always too proud to wear a hearing aid!)

However, she definitely had Alzheimer's for the final 10 years of her life. She smiled a lot but wouldn’t speak to anyone, including my Grandpa. My greatest fear was that she would forget who he was and, in a heartbreaking way, I am glad that my beloved Granny died before this could happen.

Dementia is an unforgiving, malicious, and progressive disease that eats away at the brain until the shell of its victim is unrecognisable from the person loved by so many around them.

In happier times, Gwen had an unbelievably positive impact on my life. I know that everyone’s Granny makes the best food, but Gwen was on a level of her own!?She opened my eyes, ears, and tastebuds to Jazz, Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Pink Champagne, Sunday Roasts, beautiful country walks around Kent, the list goes on…

When things got tough on the walk this weekend, I thought of Gwen.

The Walk for Alzheimer's Research

Accompanied by Robin Harris, my colleagues and I walked 100km across the Jurassic Coast to raise money for?BRACE?Alzheimer's Research.

We set off on Saturday 2nd October, from a Travelodge north of Poole, where we undertook a challenging 100km walk along Dorset's south coast to Bridport, finally arriving on Sunday evening.

The weather was not on our side, with torrential downpours and aggressive coastal winds blighting the majority of the first day, as well as parts of the second.

I had done some training prior to the event, having done the odd 10km, as well as a 30km walk from Bristol to Bath the weekend before. However, we were all in agreement that whatever training we had done was not nearly enough to prepare our bodies for what we were about to encounter.

It took us over 20 hours across the two days to complete the challenge and we are all thankful for a rest over the coming days.

We set ourselves a target of ￡2000 and are pleased to say we have exceeded this target (at time of writing ￡2,395.00 +?￡446.25?Gift Aid) and would like to thank all of those that have supported us in achieving this.

Studies have shown that Alzheimer's affects nearly 1 in 3 people living in the UK, so we hope that the money raised can help with research, which will eventually beat this malicious disease.

The JustGiving page is still open, so if anyone would like to?donate?further, it would be truly appreciated.