Felicity Keir

I'm taking on the Crunches Challenge this June for my Mum, my Nana, my late Granny Jean and for all of the people affected by dementia

In 2020, while the rest of the world was shutting down, my world changed forever too.

My mum was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s at just 55 years old. 

Overnight, me and my sister went from being daughters to becoming carers — taking her to appointments, speech pathology, managing medications, and trying to reassure her every day that we weren’t against her. It was never how I imagined I would be spending my 20’s. 

Almost six years later, there is still no cure.

Since Mum’s diagnosis, she has missed so many milestones — my older sister getting married, becoming a grandmother, my younger sisters learning to drive, their highschool graduation, me moving to Melbourne, selling my first home, countless milestone birthdays, celebrations, and everyday moments that families should get to share together.

One of the hardest parts of dementia is grieving someone who is still here.

I won’t have my mum beside me when I get married or have children and neither will my little sisters. My future kids, and my sisters’ kids, won’t get to know their granny — how funny, inappropriate, chaotic, and full of life she was before this disease slowly took pieces of her away.

Right now, more than 446,500 Australians are living with dementia, and without major intervention, that number is expected to grow to more than 1 million people by 2065.

While it may be too late to change the outcome for my mum, I hope that by fundraising I can help make a difference for other families facing this heartbreaking disease. No family should have to lose someone they love this way.

Every donation, big or small, helps fund research, support services, and hope for a future without dementia.

Thank you so much for your support.