What is

“The Ride To Remember”

A 19,000 km motorcycle ride that begins Brisbane and traveling anticlockwise via Rockhampton through central and southern Australia passing through  Adelaide ,Melbourne and Sydney ending back in Brisbane completing the Australian leg of the ride. From there the bikes will be freighted to Vladivostok, Russia, where we will travel overland across Russia  through eastern and western Europe and on to Bishop Auckland in the UK .  Along the way hoping to raise as much money as possible for Alzheimer’s research and making more people aware of this soul destroying disease.   

Why

“The Ride To Remember

My mother was born in 1933 Bishop Auckland , the heart of coal mining country in the English northeast and sadly passed away in a Nursing home that included Alzheimer’s and Dementia sufferers on the Sunshine Coast Australia on the 19th May 2012 .

She was diagnosed with dementia in 2004 but showed signs well before then. I watched on  helplessly as  this  cruel disease slowly took my mother from a vibrant alive person to someone I  barely  recognized , unable to speak , walk and even feed herself . Wearing adult nappies and spending 24 hours a day in bed. The last 2 years we think she was blind .

As this disease progresses sufferer’s recall times long passed. My mother would often call for her mother, telling me she needed to go home “I want to go home back to Bishop Auckland “ she repeated over and over calling out for her mum . She last saw her mother in 1963 before immigrating and  in 1968 mourned her passing , unable to attend the funeral back in the UK.

It is my determination to return my mother to Bishop Auckland , to lay her ashes next to that of her mother’s in  a tiny cemetery in the grounds of St James church ,Coundon .

With the blessing of the Alzheimer’s societyand accompanied by my 19 year old son Aaron I intend  to embark on this mammoth  charity  motorcycle ride carrying my mother’s ashes back home to her birth place.

Facts about Alzheimer’s and Dementia that helped to inspirer

“ The Ride To Remember”

More Than 260,000 Australians have dementia and approximately 1.2 million are caring for someone with dementia.This means that almost 1.5 million Australians are living with the affects of dementia.

Dementia is one of the most disabiing of all chronic diseases. This is because it progressively destroys the brain cells and their connections and as a consequence reduces the capacity of the individual to function normally without support from family and friends.

The impact of dementia cannot be underestimated. Each week there are 1500 new cases of dementia in Australia. This is expected to grow to 7400 by 2050. This will have a huge impact on the the health services and the amount of people required to care for  dementia suffers .

Most   people associate dementia with memory loss.  But many are still unclear about how common dementia is or what other symptoms are associated with dementia. For example 44%  underestimate or do not know the prevalance of dementia . Only 1 in 5 are aware that dementia is a terminal illness and is the third leading cause of death in Australia after heart disease and strokes.  Most are also unaware of the behavioural symptoms and language difficulties that can be associated with dementia.

Ita Buttrose President of  Alzhiemer’s Australia says. ”People once thought of dementia as something old people had to worry about. It’s now apparent that people of all ages need to be concerned beacause so many people have the condition or are  caring for  sufferers  of dementia . The differnce between dementia and alzhiemer’s is  alzhiemer’s the disease and dementia is a symptom .

With the funds    raised going to the research of dementia, hopefully we can help find a cure or at the very least, slow down the effects of this disease.

 

 

How Can You Help

“The Ride To Remember

 

In order to achieve our goal I need as much help as possible either in the way of  sponsorship and monetary donation to more tangible things such as Bikes to ride,  protective clothing to wear , help with visa’s ,documentation and freight . A web site is being developed and all Sponsors  will be well represented with corporate logos and links to their own web sites. This site will include up to the minute GPS tracking of our progress, videos and a facebook link

This is a cause   I feel very passionate about and I will do my upmost to achieve. Any and all sponsorship and donations will be greatly received making this mammoth task a lot easier to undertake

“All donations through this page will go to Alzheimer’s Society”

Need To Know More About

“The Ride To Remember

Go to www.theridetoremember.com

Call Paul Brown (Ride Organiser)   on +61402079476

Email: eurotechpaul@gmail.com