Dementia is a cruel disease. Every disease is a cruel disease, but dementia eats away at who you are, what makes you 'you'. It's scary, it changes your personality, it's distressing. And I hate it.

I hate it because both my parents have suffered from this cruel condition. Thankfully, my Mum is herself - she has early stage Alzheimer's Disease - at the moment she is mainly just forgetful. That is something we can manage.

But my Dad had much more advanced vascular dementia. He spent a lot of his final days confused and distressed because his reality didn't make sense. He often didn't know who I was. And he wasn't safe at home anymore.

On 21st January 2025, the same day that the actress Pauline Quirke announced that she had dementia too, and one of our worst days as a family, Dad moved into a care home so that we could make him safe. Sadly, a few days later, on 17th February, Dad passed away.

I run a lot and I have entered a few races in 2025. On 26th April I will be running the Forth Valley Ultramarathon - a 44 mile running race around the Firth of Forth estuary that crosses both the Kincardine and Forth Road Bridges. Then, on 14th June, I will be running the Scurry2Bridges relay race from Dundee to Edinburgh over a 100 miles with my team. I will be starting our team off in Dundee - my Dad's home town.

In his final few days, Dad drew on his immense strength and gave each of his family members 'one last day with Dad'. He beat his dementia on those days. I will be thinking of Mum and Dad the whole time I am running in those two races and so I want to use them to raise some money for Alzheimer's Scotland to tackle Alzheimer's and dementia head on. Just like Dad did, and Mum is doing now.

You can support me by donating to Alzheimer's Scotland through JustGiving. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to Alzheimer's Scotland. Alzheimer's Scotland get every penny of your donation. Your donation will support their work in tackling dementia, and it will spur me on too.