Thank you for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page. I'm fundraising for the charity Defying Dementia who are a small but mighty team of researchers at Lancaster University, dedicated to bringing their new drug treatment for Alzheimer's disease to life.

Dementia is a word used to describe a group of symptoms that occur when brain cells stop woring properly. There are lots of types of dementia, Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause.

There are currently 944,000 people with dementia in the UK, more than ever before, and this number is projected to increase. Despite this, investment in dementia research remains very low compared to other major health conditions.

The money raised will go directly to our research laboratories where it will help to fund the development of a new drug treatment which has the potential to stop the progression of Alzheimer’s disease and preserve memory.  The drug has been found in laboratory tests to block the formation of ‘senile plaques’ found in the brains of victims of Alzheimer’s disease and protects against memory loss.

However, before the drug can enter human clinical trials, they need to be sure that it is safe to take. Therefore, they need to find out things like the most suitable route for drug administration; the distribution of the drug in different organs, the rate of transport across the blood-brain barrier into the brain; and above all, ensure that the drug is not toxic to the human body and does not affect DNA.    

Currently, the drugs available for Alzheimer’s disease work only for 50% of people, and even then can only temporarily alleviate the symptoms of the disease. They do not target the underlying cause of the disease, they do not slow the progress of the disease and they certainly do not provide a cure. Hence, there is a great clinical need for the development of new treatments aimed at slowing or halting the progression of Alzheimer’s. We believe that our drug could be very successful in this. If this proves to be the case, the research will lead to a dramatic improvement in the lives of people with Alzheimer’s disease and their carers across the world.  

Thank you so much for your support! 💛💛💛💛

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. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.