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Nadia Akil is raising money for Alzheimer's Society

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Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.

I am taking part in the Great Noth Run on the Sunday the 19th of September, running 21k from Newcastle to Gateshead in aid of Alzheimers society, this is a cause close to my heart and in order for me to run i need to raise a minimum of £350 .For the past few years i have cared for many people with all types of dementia and even though i am currently finishing a degree in Interior Design i will still very much continue to stay involved as a carer.

How my fundraising will help...

£12.50 could enable one caller to the Alzheimer's Society Dementia Helpline to the recieve the advice and support they need x

£50 could pay for a phD researcher for a day to continue vital research into understanding the causes of dementia x

£100 could pay for a brain scan for a participant in a clinical trail to help improve diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease x

£750 could pay for the running of Talking Point for one week. Talking point is a 24/7 online community for people with dementia, their carers, family and friendsx

£1,509 could pay for the running of a Dementia cafe for one week x

£2,000 could support over 10,000 families with vital advice on how to talk to children about dementia with the society's award-winning 'Talking to children about your illness' booklet x

When an old lady died in the geriatric ward of a hospital in England, it appeared she had left nothing of value.

The nurse, packing up her possessions, found this poem. The quality so impressed the staff that copies were distributed to all the nurses in the hospital.

This poem then later appeared in the Christmas edition of "Beacon House News," a magazine of the Northern Ireland Mental Health Association. This was the Lady's bequest for posterity.

What do you see nurses

What do you see?

Are you thinking

When you are looking at me

A crabbit old woman

Not very wise,

Uncertain of habit

With far-away eyes,

Who dribbles her food

And makes no reply,

When you say in a loud voice

‘I do wish you’d try’

Who seems not to notice

The things that you do,

And forever is losing

A stocking or shoe,

Who unresisting or not

Lets you do as you will

With bathing and feeding

The long day to fill,

Is that what you’re thinking,

Is that what you see?

Then open your eyes nurse,

You’re not looking at me.

I’ll tell you who I am

As I sit here so still,

As I use at your bidding

As I eat at your will.

I’m a small child of ten

With a father and mother,

Brothers and sisters who

Love one another,

A young girl of sixteen

With wings on her feet,

Dreaming that soon now

A lover she’l meet:

A bride soon at twenty,

My heart gives a leap,

Remembering the vows

That I promised to keep:

At twenty-five now

I have young of my own

Who need me to build

A secure happy home.

A young woman of thirty

My young now grow fast,

Bound to each other

With ties that should last:

At forty my young ones

Now grown will soon be gone,

But my man stays beside me

To see I don’t mourn:

At fifty once more

Babies play round my knee,

Again we know children

My loves one and me.

Dark days are upon me,

My husband is dead,

I look at the future

I shudder with dread,

For my young are all busy

Rearing young of their own,

And I think of the years

And the love I have known.

I’m an old woman now

And nature is cruel,

“Tis her jest to make

Old age look like a fool.

The body it crumbles,

Grace and vigour depart,

There now is a stone

Where once I had a heart:

But inside this old carcase

A young girl still dwells,

And now and again

My battered heart swells,

I remember the joys.

I remember the pain,

And I’m loving and living

Life over again,

I think of the years

All too few-gone too fast,

And accept that stark fact

That nothing can last.

So open your eyes nurses,

Open and see,

Not a crabbit old woman,

Look closer-see ME.

"Alzheimer's Society is the UK's leading care and research charity for people with dementia and those who care for them.

There are 700,000 people with dementia in the UK with numbers set to rise to one million by 2025.

Alzheimer's Society is a membership organisation, which works to improve the quality of life of people affected by dementia in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Many of our 25,000 members have personal experience of dementia, as carers, health professionals or people with dementia themselves, and their experiences help to inform our work.

The Society's fight for a better world for people with all types of dementia takes a wide range of forms. Through our branches, we touch the lives of over 30,000 people every week, providing practical services and support for people with dementia and their carers. Every year, more than a million people make use of the information we provide.

Through campaigning and lobbying we strive to influence government policies and raise awareness of the challenges faced by people with dementia and the people who care for them. And through our research programme we work to improve the knowledge we have about dementia and its treatment - and pursuing the ultimate goal of finding a cure."

SO PLEASE SPONSOR ME INTHE FIGHT AGAINST DEMENTIA

LOVE NADIA X X X X X