Dear All, 

I wrote this before my dad sadly, recently passed away. I kept it because, actually, this is how it has been for almost a decade and this is as much about raising money and awareness for Alzheimers disease as much as it is a personal campaign.

"All of you know my dad, and if you don’t, then through us, you know exactly the man he is and if you haven’t either of these things, then you’ve missed out! The hardest thing about loving someone with Alzheimers is that you start to talk about them in the past participle which is what I find happening as I write this, but of course my dad is still ‘here’ but I struggle to explain to anyone, what more he is beyond that. My dad was the best friend, the best laugh, the most fun, the most kind and the most caring and selfless man, not just to his family but to everyone. That's what made him so special. His heart extended beyond the norm and as much as I don’t believe his heart has changed, his mind has indeed been spitefully disconnected from that huge heart and replaced with sadness, emptiness, loneliness and fear. What I can say of him in the present is that he is still such a good man and I am grateful that that, at least, has never been stolen from him in the way that everything else of his personality has. Sadly, for me and my siblings, we are not able to do much to help daddy except to carry on loving him which is what our family is so good at. Running this marathon is one thing I can do and that’s why I am so proud to run for Alzheimer's Research UK and for ‘Roycey’, my amazing dad. He’s the kind of man that if it meant a cure would be found in my lifetime so that none of his children or grandchildren would ever suffer what he has, then that alone would neutralise the damage it had done to his life. My family has had a really tough time recently and I mentioned my mum because she worried about and missed my dad right up until the very end and we all promised her that we would look after him no matter what. So I’m starting here and I want to continue to make her proud….Please support me running the marathon, it'll help to motivate me massively as I juggle training with my young family but I couldn't be more inspired at the moment."

Daddy died a day after his 71st birthday, 3 months after mummy. Ill run this marathon with them both in my memory and in my heart. Thank you! 

Siobhann xx