Jumping for Mum: doing a parachute jump for Alzheimer's Society

She said:

'Here is a picture of mum with myself, my sister and two brothers; I'm the one with the glasses. ...five years ago after dad died, Mum began to act a bit odd and last year we made the decision, not lightly, to put mum into care. It was heartbreaking to watch her. In January this year she was admitted to hospital and was found to have a very large tumour in her bladder, and nothing could be done for her.'

'As a family we watched as Alzheimer's stripped her of everything that she held dear in life, to the point where she no longer knew or recognised us as her family. We lost mum long before she left this world, it was heartbreaking to watch and she passed away with all her children and some of her grandchildren by her bedside. She was a wonderful strong woman, a loving wife, mother and grandmother, who is greatly missed.

'I am going to Australia to be with my son Colm for Christmas and will be there on her 1st Anniversary. I had this mad idea of doing a parachute jump in memory of her on her anniversary the 27 January 2013, which has now snowballed. I decided it would be a good opportunity to raise money for the Society.

'We need more research into this dreadful illness, it won't help mum but hopefully your generous donation will help others in this situation, maybe even a member of your family. So please visit my JustGiving page.'

If you would like to get involved in fundraising in your local area we have lots of ideas for fundraising individually or there are many events that you can sign up to. All funds raised will go towards supporting Alzheimer's Society fulfill our ambition of a world without dementia.