My story:

Everyone goes through loss and grief at some point in their life, sadly my Grandad passed away on the 30/09/18 which was my first direct experience of this. Although fully into old age nothing will ever prepare you for it nor change the impact it has. 

My Grandad Ben Parker lived a full life moving around the country with his job supporting my Grandma and their four sons. He was the most intelligent man I know (sorry Dad!) and incredibly logical and traditional. Although he suffered numerous health problems causing him to lose his sight and the function of his legs just as he retired at a time when he should have been ready to relax and enjoy life. He still cared for my Grandma and used his incredible mind keeping him sharp. Still able to crack a joke and somehow always dominating any and all quizzes and trivia that the family did. 

My grandma began suffering from dementia towards the last few years of Grandad's life, which for me was a sudden shock and came on incredibly fast. I know Grandad's one aim was always to take care of Grandma and to support her in any way possible. I know he would want any support to go towards looking after Grandma and trying to help her cope with such an awful and confusing illness. Whilst Grandad may not have physically been okay, his mind was something that always remained intact and allowed him to still live in relative happiness under the circumstances. 

Dementia is something that no person or family should have to go through. I can't even comprehend how it must feel for someone having it. However, it begins to remove memories and treasured moments making it gradually harder for them to recognise people and to hold conversations. It can stop people from remembering their life long partners, remembering the wonderful moments that they experienced and also simple bodily functions. Imagine years of experiences, skills learnt and relationships had completely wiped out entirely from yourself.

The cause:

Cardiff Dementia Research institute is one of 6 Research institutes in the UK with the specific intent of creating a scientific understanding of dementia, generating new targets for drug development, reinvigorating the therapeutic pipeline and helping to transform care. Ultimately these centres is where the bulk of research happens to try and fight such a horrific degenerative disease. Charities such as Alzheimer's research UK and Alzheimer's society all help fund this research and so i felt it apt to try give directly to the source of this. Some of you may know I worked for Cardiff University and this is one of their core focuses under their Neuroscience and mental health project so it is something that is here to stay and is long term. I have met some of these researchers and seen some of their facilities first hand so know that my donation and anyone else's will be put to proper, efficient good use to make a real change.

The challenge:

The challenge is simple, windsurf the distance of a double marathon (52.4 miles) in one day solo with no boat support. A marathon windsurf just seemed too simple, so I thought I would times it by 2 and try and do it over the stormy cold winter months in the UK. I wanted to make this both a physical challenge for the duration of time on the water, but fighting the cold and the storms would make it mentally challenging also. I have a GPS that I strap to my arm which tracks my avg. speed, distance, and top speed as well as position to attempt this. 

My plan is to give myself a long enough window to attempt this distance, as many know this will heavily be reliant on forecast, conditions, windsurfing locations and other variables that will allow an attempt to be possible. My current plan as it stands is to open a window from the 20/11/2018 up to the 28/02/2019. I do think this should ideally be doable during this time, however, I will need to make sure I have enough light to windsurf in and still have some considerations for my personal safety, I will be posting updates of any sessions with the GPS miles achieved and also of other training sessions through this wonderfully cold winter.

Thanks ever so much if you managed to read this this far, and it would mean loads to me if you could donate to fight dementia.