My friends didn’t believe me when I told them I had Alzheimer’s disease. At the age of 39, it just doesn’t make sense to people. I’m ex-army, I’ve travelled the world and I’m fighting fit – how can I have something like that? We still think of Alzheimer’s as a bit of forgetfulness as we get older. The truth is far worse.
My family has been hit hard by Alzheimer’s disease. I carry a rare genetic mutation which I inherited from my dad, and it means I’ll develop Alzheimer’s at a very young age. Dad died aged 42. He was in hospital so long I don’t really remember him. His sister died at 41 as she inherited the faulty gene too. Although only 400 families have what we have, the disease hits us in the same way it does when people get Alzheimer’s later in life. Our memories will leave us, we lose the ability to do day-to-day things and end up needing lots of care.
I’m one of four kids, and we all had a 50/50 chance of inheriting the gene from Dad. My two sisters avoided it, and my brother and I got it. But that’s how it should be – the lads should take the hit!
Although I know what will happen to me in the coming years, I wanted to do something to fight back against the disease – to do as much as I can while I can. It’s simple for me, you have to hit the enemy directly, so I’ve taken on a challenge to help support research.
I’m going to cycle 16,000 miles around North America. It’s going to take me a year to do it, but I hope giving one of my good years to this challenge will help give many more good years to people with dementia.
A cure may come too late for me, but it will help my kids. We’ve got man to the moon, so we’ll get to the answers if we put enough into it. I hope what I’m doing will help inspire people to support Alzheimer’s Research UK. Alzheimer’s disease is our biggest enemy, but research is our most powerful weapon.
Thanks for reading
Chris Graham
March 2015
