A UNIVERSITY of Worcester graduate will be lacing up her running shoes to tackle the London Marathon in support of charities to help those with living with dementia and their families.
Hannah Jones, from Kingswinford, near Stourbridge, will be pounding the pavements of the 26.2-mile route, having seen first-hand the effects of the disease.
The 25-year-old studied for an undergraduate degree in Psychology, going on to complete a Masters in Applied Psychology in 2015.
As part of her Masters, she focused on the impact on relatives of caring for someone with dementia and at the behavioural and psychological side of the illness.
Hannah, who currently works in product management in Bromsgrove, was prompted to look into this subject as her grandmother has dementia and at one time moved into the family home as her situation deteriorated.
“I wanted to do something which resonated with me and I found interesting and I was living it first-hand with my nan,” she said.
“I tried to focus not so much on the memory loss side of things and more on the behavioural side of things that people might not consider when they think about dementia. It would be good if there was more research into this so people would know how to manage those symptoms as well as the memory loss.”
Hannah will be running for Dementia Revolution, the Alzheimer’s Society and Alzheimer’s Research UK’s joint year-long campaign, and hopes to raise £2,000.
She is on track with her training, doing three to four runs a week, and says the cause acts as motivation.
“I’m a little bit nervous, but it will be a really nice feeling when I finish and I’m looking forward to it,” she said.
“At the back of my mind, I’m running for a good cause so I want to finish.”
“Obviously to find a cure would be the best outcome, but it’s just to put money into research and also supporting people caring for someone with dementia.
“I don’t think people understand this or know about it until it happens to them,” she added.
Visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/hl-jones for more.
