70atseventy walk

Tomorrow (Saturday 13th May) John Hirst and Carol Macauley will begin a 70 mile walk from York to Stockton-on-Tees as part Dementia Awareness Week, arriving on Thursday 18th May.

Tomorrow (Saturday 13th May) Dr John Hirst and Carol Macauley will begin a 70 mile walk from York to Stockton-On-Tees as part Dementia Awareness Week, arriving on Thursday 18th May.

John's late wife, Patricia, was born in York and lived in Stockton for 30 years. She was diagnosed with Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD) at the age of 61 and died as a result of the illness 5 years later in 2017. The aim of the walk is to raise awareness of the devastating consequences of early onset dementia to both those receiving a diagnosis and their families.

They also aim to raise funds to help Alzheimer's Research UK to support research to find treatments for the illnesses causing dementia. To date they have raised £1,100 and hope to increase the amount during the walk.

In memory of her John, who turned 70 in January, will be taking on a challenge with friend Carol Macaulay from Thornaby.  

They plan to walk 70 mile from York to Stockton between Saturday 13th May to Thursday, 18th May as part of Dementia Awareness Week. 

The first day will be spent around York were Patricia was born and grew up with the route calling at St Wilfrid's Church where she married in 1978 and Bar Covent where she went to school. They will then head north through the North Yorkshire countryside to Alne, Kilburn, Osmotherley, Maltby before a final walk calling at Hemlington Library, LiveWell Dementia Hub in Thornaby before finishing at Sustrans Hub in Stockton.

John said: “Pat was diagnosed with Frontotemporal Dementia in 2012, 18 months after her retirement as a nurse in the NHS. Following her diagnosis her decline was rapid resulting in loss of speech, an inability to swallow and for the final months she was forced to use a wheelchair.

Throughout her ordeal she was always able to recognise us all and was aware until very close to the end of her life.” 

“Since her diagnosis I have been helping to raise awareness of early onset dementia and also raise funds for Alzheimer's Research UK, the UK's leading dementia research charity dedicated to understanding the causes, diagnosis, prevention and treatment of dementia.”  

Sara Hoxhaj, North East Regional Fundraising Officer at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said: “Dementia affects a significant proportion of the population - one in three people over 65 in the UK will die with some form of the condition. 

“That is why we are determined to help scientists discover new treatments and find ways of tackling the diseases that cause dementia, but we can't do this without the support of our wonderful fundraisers.” 

944,000 people are estimated to be living with dementia in the UK.  52% of the UK public – 34.5 million people know someone who has been ndiagnosed with a form of dementia.

1 in 3 people born in the UK this year will develop dementia in their lifetime. In the UK, dementia is the only condition in the top 10 causes of death without a treatment to prevent, cure or slow its progression. 

On average 11.25% of deaths in England and Wales were due to dementia in 2022, 3.3% were due to COVID19.  In October 2022, 5,249 people died due to dementia  in England. 15.9% of women died due to Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias in 2019 in the UK.  

It was the leading cause of death for women.  8.8% of men died due to Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias in 2019 in the UK. It was the second leading cause of death for men.

The number of deaths due to Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias around the world is predicted to rise by 41%. This is almost twice as fast as the increase in total deaths, predicted to rise by 22%. 

Fundraising page: justgiving.com/fundraising/70atseventy where John and Carol will be blogging about their walk.