LETTERKENNY, Ireland – Mr Jordan Adams, who ran the London Marathon with a 25kg fridge on his back last weekend, is now running around Ireland in a race to find a cure for a form of dementia both he and his brother are near certain to contract.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis mission is ongoing, as is our family\u2019s devastation with dementia, one step at a time,\u201d Mr Adams told a crowd who gathered to see him off on April 29 in County Donegal, their latest stop.<\/p>\n
The 30-year-old is running consecutive daily marathons for 32 days in each of Ireland\u2019s 32 counties \u2013 north and south of the Irish border \u2013 with the finish in Dublin on May 28. Without the fridge, though.<\/p>\n
Assisted by his younger brother Cian, 25, who will mostly cycle the routes, the pair started in County Antrim in Northern Ireland on April 27, just a day after completing the 42km course in London. <\/p>\n
Nicknamed the FTD brothers, their mother Geraldine was diagnosed in 2010 aged 47 with a rare form of familial Frontal Temporal Dementia.<\/p>\n
Overnight, Cian, then aged just 9, Jordan as a 15-year-old, their older sister and father became primary carers of their mum who died at 52 in 2016.<\/p>\n
Two years later, Jordan learned he carries the MAT-T gene mutation which gives him a 99.9 per cent chance of developing the same early-onset dementia. <\/p>\n
Soon after Cian tested positively for the same gene.<\/p>\n
With terminal symptoms expected to aggressively emerge in their 40s, the brothers face a stark race against time.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat makes this disease even more cruel is that we\u2019ve lost twelve Irish relatives, including my mum and Nan,\u201d Jordan, from the English Midlands, told AFP.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted to come to Ireland where all the devastation started, to honour our Irish relatives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Running with a fridge on board in London was \u201csurreal\u201d, said Jordan, who did the stunt to bring attention to the disease. <\/p>\n
But with Cian alongside to douse him with water, they reached the finish line together. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe both share the same diagnosis and the same future, so I know our mum was shining down with a lot of pride,\u201d Jordan told AFP.<\/p>\n
The brothers are not new to extreme challenges. <\/p>\n
They ran around the United Kingdom two years ago, while Jordan has a seven-in-seven-days marathon challenge under his belt.<\/p>\n
Undaunted by the Irish 32-in-32 test, Cian said it \u201ccomes in handy that he works as a physiotherapist.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve put together a good plan over the last six months, strength and conditioning, plyometrics, running training to get Jordan in the best nick possible for this challenge,\u201d Cian told AFP. <\/p>\n
\u201cTouch wood, at the moment his legs feel good for it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The brothers have set themselves the goal of raising \u00a31 million (S$1.7 million) in their mother\u2019s honour, and for research into an Alzheimer\u2019s cure that could save them.<\/p>\n
After London, they are almost halfway there.<\/p>\n
Ms Carol Molloy, who helps run the local branch of the Alzheimer Society of Ireland (ASI), told AFP that around 64,000 people are living with dementia in the EU member.<\/p>\n
An estimated one in 10 of those have a young-onset diagnosis, with that number expected to grow to around 150,000 by 2050, according to Ms Molloy.<\/p>\n
Some 50 per cent of the proceeds of the brothers\u2019 marathon challenge will go to the ASI.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat Jordan and Cian are doing is amazing, we are so grateful,\u201d said Ms Molloy.<\/p>\n
Dozens of local people joined the pair on their run, at least part of the way.<\/p>\n
Participant Sean McFadden, a runner from Letterkenny who recently lost his father to dementia, said he would complete the full marathon route alongside the brothers in solidarity. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to hold our hearts out to the two lads and hope everything goes well,\u201d said the 50-year-old.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a hard disease. For me today to be able to join in with the boys, it\u2019s quite special,\u201d he told AFP before setting off.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LETTERKENNY, Ireland – Mr Jordan Adams, who ran the London Marathon with a 25kg fridge on his back…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":417846,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-417845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=417845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417845\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/417846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}