A walking challenge for mum

Lynn’s story

I’m not a very sporty person, but when I saw the advert for Alzheimer Scotland’s 90K Steps Challenge I thought – I could do that.

I wanted to do it for my mum Helen who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease just over a year ago. She had been having issues with her memory for a while and initially we thought it might have been due to her getting older, or because of the stress of caring for my dad until he passed away.

But we took her to see the doctor who then confirmed it was dementia. We supported mum to live at home as long as possible, but her condition progressed quickly and she needs round-the-clock care.

Mum is 84 now and is settling into a lovely nursing home that takes great care of her. She has good days and bad days but she is so well looked after. There’s always someone to chat to and activities to take part in. She has lots of visits from family and friends too.

Mum is the kind of person who always looked after everyone else. She worked as an auxiliary nurse but she was always there to look after me, my dad and my sister. Family is the most important thing to her. I remember lots of family holidays to the seaside, or visiting relatives on the east coast. She now has five grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren, who bring her so much joy.

Alzheimer Scotland do amazing work in supporting families like ours who are affected by dementia, so I wanted to do something to help them in honour of mum.

The 90K Steps Challenge was tougher than I first thought, but I loved it and had so much fun. It’s given my health a real boost too and I hope to keep up the walking as much as I can.

I’m delighted at the amount raised and so grateful to everyone who has donated. I like that the money will stay in Scotland and hope it helps provide advice and support to other people like me who are affected by dementia.