Introducing Stanley, Making A Difference In Dementia

My name is Stanley Ted Pattison I am 16 years old, I go to Redborne Upper School in Ampthill, Bedfordshire UK.   I am passionate about tennis and play tennis most days all over Bedfordshire in the UK.

I am dyslexic and have had my own health issues. 

I won in 2019 the LTA Junior Volunteer Award for Bedfordshire, and the Central & Eastern Regional Junior Volunteer Award 2020 and was one of the runners up in the LTA Nationals for Young Person of the year in 2020 and this makes me more determined to help others.

I have had a crazy idea to set up a tennis event (RADiCall) in aid of Race Against Dementia a charity set up by Sir Jackie Stewart OBE.

The RADiCall competition was supposed to held on Saturday 27 June 2020, BUT due to the world unfortunately shutting down due to Covid 19 we had to postpone BUT we will have a new date when it is safe to host competitions again fingers crossed in Spring 2022, look out for details !!! 

Email me on stpattisonrad@gmail.com for details on how to enter and keep an eye out for posters next year! It will be a fun competition for ALL ages, open to all. 

Please get involved!   My school has, we’re doing a non-uniform day with a twist of tennis sessions at break and lunch on Friday 30 April , why this date because of #captainTom 100

I have met Michael Spencer who is famous for his charity days in London and he is kindly sponsoring me!

The RADiCall logo: this is my vision and is broken down to Race Against Dementia and i (as in myself and you) Call for a change to someone’s life.  The logo is a picture of a broken brain with the dotted line stressing the loss of focus the brain creates with dementia.  BUT Sport does make happiness and it doesn’t matter who you are you can play.

WHY am I doing this? I am trying to raise awareness of a charity who, by raising money for scientists have confidence that they can fix dementia. Dementia affects millions of people every day. 

Families are torn apart from the upset of looking after the person who they love and people of my age will know someone who has it. Young people are affected by dementia too even though they don’t have it.

Being dyslexic I get how the brain works, I just think differently and need to be told sometimes up to 5 times what something is before I can remember it, but for people with dementia they used to know it but just cannot remember it which is more sad! 

The RADiCall tennis competition will not ONLY help me raise awareness and would like to raise £50,000 via JustGiving or by entering the competition.   This could help pay for a doctor to work on finding a cure for dementia for 6 months as part of Race Against Dementia’s Fellowship Programme, or go towards their existing scientists helping change the way they work, speeding up finding an answer and stopping more people from getting the disease.

Help me get my voice to others please read and share my story, I’d be really grateful.

If I can anyone can, we can!