{"id":421053,"date":"2026-04-28T04:01:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T04:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/421053\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T04:01:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T04:01:10","slug":"fridge-runner-starts-32-irish-marathons-to-support-alzheimers-research-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/421053\/","title":{"rendered":"Fridge runner starts 32 Irish marathons to support Alzheimer\u2019s research \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Jordan Adams checked his watch in a 17th-century Co Antrim garden as a crowd chanted a countdown before the first of his 32 marathons across Ireland.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Squirrels ran the length of enormous copper beech trees as he got into position at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/antrim\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/antrim\/\">Antrim<\/a> Castle Gardens on Monday morning. Behind him, a maze of manicured hedges stood lined with rows of tulips.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cMy main worry right now is that I have no clue of the route \u2013 I\u2019m just relying on my watch. Even getting out of this park, it looks amazing,\u201d Adams joked.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The 30-year-old, from Redditch, Worcestershire, arrived in Belfast shortly after midnight after completing the London Marathon with a 25kg fridge on his back.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">By his side is his brother, Cian (25), a physiotherapist who is cycling the route \u2013 ending in Dublin \u2013 across 32 counties in 32 days.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The siblings carry a rare gene for frontotemporal dementia (FTD), which causes early onset dementia.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"Brothers Cian and Jordan Adams. Photograph: Arthur Allison\/Pacemaker&#10;\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/W5UWDURVBNHT3PHOIULFRAMTBE.JPG\"   width=\"800\" height=\"532\"\/>Brothers Cian and Jordan Adams. Photograph: Arthur Allison\/Pacemaker<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Their mother, Geraldine, died from the condition aged 52 and the family has lost 12 relatives living in Ireland to it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">There is a 99.9 per cent chance that Jordan and Cian will develop the aggressive terminal disease in their 40s.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Losing his mother in 2016 \u201cchanged everything\u201d for Jordan, a former painter and decorator who wants to raise \u00a31 million (\u20ac1.15 million) for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/alzheimer-s-disease\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/alzheimer-s-disease\/\">Alzheimer\u2019s<\/a> research. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Jordan figured running the London Marathon with a household appliance on his back would be a good way to draw attention to their fundraising efforts, but he has left the fridge at home for this stretch of the campaign. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Five minutes before setting off, he pointed to his forearm where \u201cLove always\u201d is tattooed; the words are also stitched into the side of his running top.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201c\u2018Love always\u2019 was how my mum used to always sign off cards, that\u2019s her handwriting I have on my arm,\u201d he said. \u201cI hope we\u2019re doing her proud.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">More than \u00a3400,000 has been raised to date through endurance challenges by the pair, who call themselves the FTD Brothers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Following his diagnosis, Jordan said he \u201chad a choice\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cThere\u2019s no cure for this disease so we\u2019re trying to make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Behind him in the Co Antrim gardens is his mother-in-law, Helen, the \u201cchef\u201d for their marathons. Peanut butter and jam bagels, a banana and \u201cplenty of coffee\u201d have been \u201cprovided by Helen to keep us going\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Crowds of early morning runners and walkers gathered among the flower beds to support the brothers.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"Cian and Jordan Adams at Antrim Castle Gardens.&#10;Photograph: Arthur Allison\/Pacemaker &#10;\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/MFJG34HV7RAS3MSABYZE6LUA5M.JPG\"   width=\"800\" height=\"521\"\/>Cian and Jordan Adams at Antrim Castle Gardens.<br \/>\nPhotograph: Arthur Allison\/Pacemaker <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cIt\u2019s quite overwhelming at the moment to see all these people come out,\u201d Jordan said. \u201cThis [series of marathons] is something we came up with last year but we\u2019ve been working around this for the last eight years to raise awareness.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cIt\u2019s taken a hell of a lot of planning from family and friends.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Among their supporters is Co Antrim runner Barry Williamson, who was wearing his medal from Sunday\u2019s London Marathon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cYou\u2019re an inspiration, mate, honestly,\u201d said Williamson, shaking Jordan\u2019s hand.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph b-it-article-body__interstitial-link\">[\u00a0<a aria-label=\"Open related story\" class=\"c-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/culture\/art\/2026\/01\/24\/you-can-never-replace-it-the-artist-capturing-precious-memories-from-dementia-patients-3\/\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u2018You can never replace it\u2019: The artist capturing precious memories from dementia patientsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The family discovered the FTD gene came from their maternal grandmother\u2019s side. She hailed from Co Leitrim and they also have relatives in Longford.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cSo we\u2019re coming back here, there\u2019s Irish relatives that we\u2019ve lost with a form of FTD. We just want to honour their memory and keep them lit,\u201d added Jordan.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Cian strapped on his cycling helmet and joined his brother in thanking those present in the gardens.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">He was just nine years old when his mother was diagnosed with the disease in 2011.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Their sister, Kennedy, does not carry the gene, which was the \u201cgreatest news\u201d, Cian added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cFTD has literally devastated our family. So many of our family members, particularly Irish family members, have passed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cWe feel we haven\u2019t had the opportunity to rekindle our Irish roots so this is a nice way to do it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cWe don\u2019t know how many healthy years we\u2019ve left. To run marathons with your brother, to travel round and have this kind of support \u2013 there\u2019s no better way to spend our time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jordan Adams checked his watch in a 17th-century Co Antrim garden as a crowd chanted a countdown before&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":421054,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[51967,80306,61,60,4740,112],"class_list":["post-421053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-alzheimer-s-disease","tag-antrim","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-running","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=421053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/421054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}