Thank you for visiting my fundraising page to help me meet my fundraising target to run the London Marathon 2026 for Project Hope - a groundbreaking research (between Alzheimer's Society and my company PIB Group) into detecting early signs of dementia and other diseases of the brain such as MND and Parkinson's.

My Mum is my motivation...

My lovely mum lived with dementia, and we believe she was fortunate to have a diagnosis followed by access to treatment, which helped to improve her quality of life.

Mum tragically passed away very suddenly at the start of 2025. Our family is heartbroken, but we are keen to channel our pain and energy into something positive to help others, through the work of Project Hope.

When we were little, Mum introduced me, my sister and my brother to musical, sport and dance hobbies. She took us to lessons, competitions, festivals, exams, displays and more.

We will be forever grateful. For that reason, I'm raising money through playing the piano and love for sport, in Mum's memory.

It's been almost 30 years since I seriously played the piano. That's a story for another day about how it came back into my life on World Piano Day 2024... and it's brought it so much joy and comfort.

I hope that through tickling the old ivories again for family or friends in a variety of settings, I can brighten someone's day with a smile and raise some funds for Project Hope.

All donations will go directly to the Project, as part of my efforts in taking part in the London Marathon 2026 (my first ever marathon - eek!).

Thank you for your support.

Lorraine x x x

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About Project Hope - a partnership between PIB Group and the Alzheimer’s Society to fund a transformational and groundbreaking research project that aims to change the landscape of dementia and other brain diseases.

Over £550k has been raised so far, towards a target total of £1m. Can you help?

Across the UK, hundreds of thousands of people live with Alzheimer’s disease, motor neurone disease (MND), and Parkinson’s. Dementia, caused by Alzheimer’s and other diseases of the brain, affects 900,000 people in the UK with a further 700,000 acting as unpaid carers for their loved ones living with dementia. It is expected that nearly 1.4m people will be living with a dementia diagnosis by 2040.

To help change the landscape of dementia and other brain diseases PIB Group have joined forces with Alzheimer’s Society to launch ‘Project Hope’. Our ambition is to engage PIB’s people and networks to come together and wholly fund a pioneering research fellowship – a transformational five-year project exploring the breakdown of connections between brain cells.

Different areas of the brain communicate through connections between brain cells, called synapses. In many diseases that cause dementia, the synapses are lost. Brains affected by such diseases experience several other changes too, including the clumping of a protein called TDP-43.

Dr Chris Henstridge and his team at the University of Dundee are investigating how through this project this protein may lead to the breakdown of the connections between brain cells. Finding out how TDP-43 proteins contribute to the loss of brain cell connections could reveal ways to help detect signs of disease and prevent it from happening.

Our collective support through this project will provide people living with diseases of the brain hope of an earlier and accurate diagnosis so they can plan for their future and benefit from future treatments that may be developed.

In supporting Project Hope, you will be helping to drive real change at the most exciting period of dementia research in decades. We’ve already seen the first disease modifying treatments for Alzheimer’s disease go through approval processes in the UK last year.

Thirty years ago, research funded by Alzheimer’s Society, led by Professor Sir John Hardy, made the historic breakthrough which discovered the role of amyloid protein plaques in Alzheimer’s disease which made these drugs possible.

Now you can play your part in funding future breakthroughs, providing help and hope to those living with dementia and helping drive real progress towards a cure for this cruel disease.

Together we can help and are helping end the devastation caused by dementia.

Visit my company website for more information pibgroup.co.uk