My mum, Elaine suffered a stroke in the summer of 2018. Although she recovered physically, she was diagnosed with Vascular Dementia. My dad decided to become her main carer and managed after a few months to get her home. To get her home, my sister Tracey and I had to spend some time chasing and fighting for support from the Council to help with care.Mum’s short term memory was severely impacted but at least she still knew who we were and it seemed that her Dementia was stabilised, but then Covid hit in March 2020.

Like so many other families, we couldn’t see them and dad had to do all the care. Tragically, my dad had a fatal heart attack in the September of 2020 and mum had to go into temporary care. This was the bleakest and hardest time, as my sister and I had to tell her that her husband of 44 years and our dad had passed away. We had to stand 2 meters away due to the rules and we were made to keep our distance.  We could not cry with her or give her a hug. Sadly, due to her condition, we had to live through this again and again, every time we saw her. 

She wanted to stay in her home of 44 years and despite everything that my sister and I tried to do, we couldn’t get the support and care for her to be able to live in her home so she had to return to care.Three months later, another lockdown and this time it was fatal for mum, as she contracted Covid and passed away. To lose both parents in the space of 3 months was devastating.

It still feels raw even now, but more recently we’ve had more times talking about them, the good and the bad. We wanted to do something in their memory and that’s when we came across the Motoscape Banger Rally. Dad would have loved the idea and would have been keen to hear what banger I could get for less than a grand, whilst mum would have hated the idea! More recently, we heard from a close friend, that her husband has been diagnosed with Alzheimer and through talking to her, all the issues and the experiences that she was having as the main carer reminded us of mum and dad.  

We want to raise awareness of this cruel disease; 

We want you to understand that those with dementia may seem ok when you meet them for a moment but they struggle everyday;

We want you to know how woefully under resourced and under funded the support for those living with dementia;

We are taking part in the Motoscape Banger Rally 2023, starting in a village just south of Calais and over 5 days, travel to Venice. During the journey, we have to get to checkpoints in Germany and Austria as well as do challenges on the way. The first challenge though is to find a banger that is £999 or less.

So we are team Forget-me-not and we stand with mum, dad, Trish, Mike and all those who have been touched by dementia. Please stand with us and help us to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Society.

We are self funding this adventure so all sponsorship money raised will go to the Alzheimer’s Society.

Thank you for reading to the end.

Love Carl, Rose and Bella 

Alzheimer’s Society is transforming the landscape of dementia forever.

Until the day we find a cure, we will create a society where those affected by dementia are supported and accepted, able to live in their community without fear or prejudice.