This is for my Nan Cherry of 78 years of age who is currently in the stages of Frontotemporal Dementia which is one of the rarest forms of the Dementia/Alzheimer's.

My nan is the typical South East London nan that took pride in her appearance, always had her nails done and loved going to the hairdressers to spruce herself up. She loved having a good look at Idris Elba on the TV and anyone that look Mediterranean that was 'tall, dark and handsome' with the comment of 'Cor he is rather nice aint he'. She loves her music and dancing and being surrounded by her family and adored all her 6 grandchildren and 8 great grandchildren.

I will be taking part in a 10km run in Brighton on Sunday 19th April 2020 to help with raising funds and awareness for this horrific illness. I am not the best runner as even running for the train completely takes it out of me and I look like a T-Rex when I run so this will be a challenge for me but with the best intentions pushing me to get over that finish line.

The reasoning behind it all...

She was diagnosed in 2012 with the effects rapidly taking over in the last year. We lost my grandad in March 2018 due to many complications, he was the support and rock for my Nan during her complications of mental health and depression. When my grandad sadly left us all, two weeks afterwards my Nan had a huge heart attack which was life threatening.. This was one of the complications with the many we faced over the next year.

This awful illness has taken everything from my nan within such a quick period of time whilst also having to deal with grief of losing her husband of 58 years, her mental health and one of the rarest forms of Dementia. She was a size 22 and now is down to a size 8. Her speech is mumbled and is constantly confused, upset with her surroundings, walking up and down unable to calm herself down unless given medication, crying for help, hallucinating these are the beginning of symptoms and there are many more to come. But the one thing that we are still thankful for is her still being aware of who we are, for now that is.

This will eventually make my Nan bed bound, have complete memory loss, unable to swallow, any control over her bladder which will resulting in her leaving us.

Any donations no matter how small will be grateful!! And lets all hope that one day this nasty life destroying illness gets cure to stop turning family members into someone they are not and making us lose them without any way to stop it.

In Depth Information About FTD...

In behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia, the parts of the frontal lobe that regulate social behaviour may be most affected. In semantic dementia, the parts of the temporal lobe that support understanding of language and factual knowledge are most affected. In progressive non-fluent aphasia, the parts of the frontal lobe that control speech are most affected.

Symptoms get worse over time, gradually leading to more widespread problems with day-to-day function. Some people may develop movement problems similar to those seen in Parkinson’s. Over time people with FTD can find it harder to swallow, eat, communicate and move, and may have difficulties with bladder or bowel control. They will require more support to look after themselves.

The speed of change can vary widely. The average survival time after symptoms start is about eight years, but some people live with the condition for much longer than this.

Symptoms may include:

• Changes in emotions – this may include a change in how people express their feelings towards others or a lack of understanding of other people’s feelings.
• Lack of interest – people may become withdrawn or lose interest in looking after themselves, such as failing to maintain their normal level of personal hygiene.
• Inappropriate behaviour – this might include making inappropriate jokes or showing a lack of tact. Humour or sexual behaviour may change. Some people become impulsive or easily distracted.
• Obsessions – people might develop unusual beliefs, interests or obsessions.
• Diet – changes in food preference such as eating more sweet things, over-eating or over-drinking.
• Awareness – lack of awareness of any changes in their personality or behaviour.
• Decision making – difficulty with simple plans and decisions.
• Language – decline in language abilities. This might include difficulty getting words out or understanding them. People may repeat commonly used words and phrases, or forget the meaning of words.
• Recognition – difficulty recognising people or knowing what objects are for.
• Memory – day-to-day memory may be relatively unaffected in the early stages, but problems with attention and concentration could give the impression of memory problems.
• Movement problems – around one in every eight people with behavioural variant FTD also develops movement problems of motor neurone disease. This can include stiff or twitching muscles, muscle weakness and difficulty swallowing.