Raising cash for dementia care: Jane’s charity run honours late brother

A lawyer whose brother died after having young onset dementia, has raised more than £17,000 for  Dementia UK after taking part in this year’s Great North Run.

Jane Keir, of Pimlico, who is a trustee of the specialist nurse charity, took on the 13.1 mile route in memory of her late brother Bruce who died a year ago, almost to the day.

Jane’s mother and grandmother also lived with Alzheimer’s, and she chose to help raise funds to support the work of Dementia UK’s specialist Admiral Nurses.

Dementia is a huge and growing health crisis. Every three minutes, someone in the UK develops dementia and there are currently over 900,000 people living with the condition in the UK. This number is expected to rise to 1.1m by 2030.

Dementia UK provides specialist dementia nurse support through its Admiral Nurse service. Admiral Nurses provide support and guidance for families affected by all forms of dementia in communities, hospitals and hospices, on the free national Dementia Helpline, and in clinics.

Jane, 60, said: “Bruce died two days after I did the Great North run last year and I like to think that somehow he knew what I was doing and that he was my inspiration.

“He was a very clever man who designed music systems for a company called Blackstar Amplification and his workmates have always been very supportive of both Dementia UK and the Alzheimer’s Society.”

She added: “I wanted to help raise money to fund the work of Admiral Nurses as we need many, many more of them in our communities.

“When my mother was ill, we had the support of a fantastic Admiral Nurse who was always there for us – helping with the diagnosis, what to expect and how to explain the condition to children.”

Dementia UK’s fundraising director, Martin Bishop, said: “Thanks to the hard work of our amazing fundraisers like Jane, more families than ever will be able to access the life-changing support offered by our dementia specialist Admiral Nurses and national Dementia Helpline.”

This year’s Great North Run is expected to have raised about £25m in charitable donations, and is the world’s biggest half-marathon with around 60,000 participants.

Pictured top: Jane Keir with her nephew Archie Keir after both had finished this year’s Great North Run (Picture: Jack Parrish)