Dementia brothers praise ‘phenomenal’ Irish support completing 33 marathon feat

By Claudia Savage, Press Association

The FTD Brothers have said they believe their effort has brought “hope to an entire nation” as they completed 33 marathons in 33 days to raise funds and awareness for frontotemporal dementia (FTD).

Jordan and Cian Adams carry a rare gene that causes frontotemporal dementia (FTD), which means they have a high chance of developing dementia in their 40s.

Their mother, Geraldine, died at the age of 52 after developing FTD.

Jordan, 30, completed the 33 marathons to raise funds and awareness of dementia, with support from his physio brother Cian, 25.

Jordan began by running the London Marathon on April 26th while carrying a 25kg fridge on his back, before travelling to Ireland to run a marathon a day in each of the 32 counties across the island.

The so-called FTD Brothers, from Redditch, Worcestershire, raised more than £1 million (€1.154 million) and completed the mammoth challenge in Merrion Park Square, Dublin, where hundreds came out to support the family.

Jordan told the crowd in Merrion Square Park: “I just want to say how much we’ve appreciated from Antrim to Dublin, every single one of you in your hometowns, in your counties, come out showing your colours, showing the real Irish spirit, and it’s showing the power of when people come together.

“It isn’t an easy time for any of us and I mean as human beings, there’s a lot, when you switch on the telly, to be sad about and I hope that across the last 33 days, we’ve brought hope to people not just living with dementia but we brought hope to an entire nation, because we felt your support every single day.”

As well as their mother, the brothers have also lost an aunt to FTD, and Jordan said they’ve been on a “long, long journey as a family”.

“I know I talk for a lot of people here when it comes to navigating the heartbreak and devastation when it comes to living with dementia, how isolated and unsupported, unseen, unheard we feel as families,” he said.

In 2018, Jordan learned he was a carrier of the gene mutation that causes FTD.

He said: “There’s no treatment, there’s no cure, and ultimately, going off the 12 relatives that I’ve lost to this familial form of FTD, I will lose my life, starting more than likely in my mid to late 40s.

“For some people, I think you go through one or two doors.

“You can either go through a door where you let that kind of circumstance, that cruel hand that you get dealt in life consume you, or you can walk through a door where you use it as a powerful message to the world to show you that no matter the time that you have here, or the cards that you get dealt you have a choice at how you play your hand, and I left that hospital that day knowing that I wanted to make an impact on the world.”

Over the last four weeks, thousands of people have come out to show their support for the pair, running with them or carrying signs and cheering.

Speaking to the Press Association after the final marathon, Jordan said the support they’ve seen “has been phenomenal, and it won’t sink in for a long, long time”.

“It’s been a special, special journey, and that’s why everyone’s asking me, “I’m happy it’s over – not really, because it’s been the best experience of my life to date, in terms of bringing what is a strange dream, in a sense, of making dementia visible, to light.

“It’s been something that I’ve been campaigning for for eight years, and to see the amount of support here in Ireland, and make that happen in a place where my mom loved so much is incredibly special.”

Cian said there had been “really tough moments” for Jordan over the month with “many tears shed”.

“There’s been many moments, physically, mentally, that we, you know, might have been dubious as to whether we were going to get him to Dublin but it was never really in doubt,” he said.

He said the pair were “so so grateful” but the challenge is “only the beginning”.

“When this challenge is over, we’re still going to get dementia. It still will be on its track to be Ireland’s biggest killer. So, the work starts now,” he said.

“We need to work out how to spend all the money that’s been donated, and where that needs to go in terms of research and welfare for families.”

Jordan added: “We opened it up last week to hearing people’s living experiences, as well as we have when we met them in person, and we want to go to the Dail and relay what we’ve been told, where the shortfalls are, because there’s plenty.

“And ultimately it’s, it’s money that will change the needle, whether that’s Brussels or that’s here in Ireland, things need to change, and we’ll push for that as hard as we can, and make sure that we advocate properly for the people of Ireland.”