Jess's Story
Dementia has affected almost every branch of my family. What once felt like a distant illness now sits very close to home.
My grandad Terry was the best storyteller I knew. So when dementia began to take hold, I noticed it in his stories first. Details became muddled and timelines blurred until the day came when he could no longer tell them at all. That was the moment I realised I was losing him. I lost my grandad in 2018 but, in truth, I lost him many times before that.
I realised all too quickly that dementia doesn’t just steal memories. It steals conversations, traditions and all the ordinary moments you assume there will always be more of.
My nanny, his wife, is now living with dementia in a specialist care home. She no longer remembers my name, my wedding or my children, but she still talks about my grandad as if he’ll be joining her for dinner. It is beautiful and heartbreaking in equal measure.
Then, when my maternal grandad was recently diagnosed, it felt as though dementia had come knocking on our family’s door all over again. It was another reminder to treasure every conversation, every story and every ordinary moment while we still can.
That is why I am proudly running the London Marathon for BRACE Dementia Research.
I am running for my grandparents and for every family living through this slow and painful loss. I am running because I have seen how much this disease takes and how little control we have once it begins. Most of all, I am running in the hope that one day, with the help of charities like BRACE, there will be a cure so that fewer families will have to watch the people they love disappear before they’re gone.
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