My Story

I am running for brain research in memory of my Uncle Neil and my grandad. 

In 2011 we suddenly lost my Mum's brother to a brain aneurysm at 43 years old. He had no symptoms and was a healthy man, besides the many beers at a West Ham match! So it was a shock when he passed suddenly one evening. Both Neil and my grandad were huge West Ham fans and we regularly went to matches together with my Dad, and I am often thinking of them and the memories at football as I watch the hammers play. 

My grandad had a stroke back in 2001 on New Years Eve, which left him paralysed on the right side of his body. He found it hard to walk, talk and was always in pain, but he always had a smile on his face and was the happiest man I knew. He sadly passed in 2020 but lived a long happy life despite his severe stroke. Had my grandad had a similar stroke today, he likely wouldn't have been as severely paralysed and his condition would be far more understood. This just goes to show the development in research and how fundraising has helped to make breakthroughs in medicine. 

The profile picture of this page is (from left to right) myself and my sister Isobelle, my Nan, and Jamie and Lauren, my two cousins (Uncle Neil's children). 

With fundraising and development in brain research it may one day be possible to detect brain aneurysms early, which would have saved my Uncle's life.