There are 850,000 people with dementia in the UK, with numbers set to rise to over 1 million by 2025. This will soar to 2 million by 2051. 225,000 will develop dementia this year, that's one every three minutes. 1 in 6 people over the age of 80 have dementia.

And my Dad, aged 85, is one of them.

Of course it's cruel on the person affected but it's also extremely hard for their loved ones. Read James Ashwell's account of his journey with his mum on unforgettable.org, which by the way is a great site he founded to help people find resources and information when faced with the reality of caring for someone with dementia.

I am lucky to be CEO of HSL Comfort Experts (hslchairs.com), a business which manufactures and sells furniture, which is both beautiful and great for your posture, with 59 showrooms and a national, free home visit service. Both personally and members of our team have experience of loved ones with dementia and almost everyday we meet customers who are also on their dementia journey.

Dementia Friends is an Alzheimer's Society initiative and HSL is proud to be working to become an official Dementia Friends partner.

Running the Edinburgh Marathon will coincide with the last day of this year's Dementia Action Week (20-26 May), and the thought of running for my Dad has given me that extra boost on those cold Spring mornings when I get up at 5am to go for a run ... and for those of you who are thinking 'isn't Edinburgh rather hilly, what's he thinking?!', the run is mainly along the coast but that still leaves the little matter of 26.2 miles ...

Thank you for your support, no matter how large or small, it will make a big difference.