Bradford City are again supporting the Alzheimer society's 'Memory walk' on Sunday 10th September (Lister Park, Manningham Lane) in association with former player and club stalwart Allan Gilliver who was diagnosed with vascular dementia and degenerative Alzheimer's disease in 2011.
Similar to last year's event, City boss Stuart McCall will be alongside Allan with the club's Chief Operating Officer James Mason joining for the first time. Both Stuart and James have close family members that have been affected with the condition and it's now thought that close to one million Britons could be suffering from the disease in one form or another.
Allan was diagnosed with vascular dementia and degenerative Alzheimer's disease in 2011 after 3 years of visits to the Memory Assessment Centre. His wife Christine is welcoming anyone who knows Allan or is in anyway connected to someone suffering from a similar condition to join the walk and enjoy some light relief whilst raising money and awareness for the charity.
'Over the years I have met some amazing people who all face the same challenges as I do with courage, sadness, frustration and, sometimes, anger at what has happened to our lives. It is such a cruel disease as it robs you of your future. You try and live well with it but sometimes it's impossible. You are no longer a wife, friend, lover, you become a carer', she said.
'But, you care for the person you love even if they no longer realise it. You live with a sense of grief daily but you are grieving for a person who is still there. So much more needs to be done to try and find a cure. We hope you can join us on our walk.'
James Mason added, 'We'd encourage anyone who wants to join us to come along. We hope to contact a number of former players and colleagues of Allan so it will be a fun day with a serious underlying message to try raise as much money as possible to donate yo research into the disease. I like many other people have seen a family member affected by Dementia and fully understand the strain it puts on the individual and their close friends and relatives. Hopefully the walk will give us all the chance to have a lovely day in the sunshine, fingers crossed!
Key information:
Date: Sunday 10th September
Registration: From 10am and the Walk starts at 11am with 3 laps around the lake.
Location: Lister Park, Manningham Lane.'
Donations can be made directly via the below link and will be very gratefully accepted.
www.justgiving.com/fundraising/bradfordmemorywalk2017 .
Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.