He now wants to raise awareness to help others
Phil Hayward with his grandad, Roy(Image: Phil Hayward)
A man is taking on a huge challenge in honour of his grandad, who has been battling Alzheimer’s for nine years. Phil Hayward, 35, told the ECHO how his grandad, Roy Taylor, 89, was always active and loved to play golf before he was diagnosed with the disease in 2016.
Since then, he has watched his “best friend” turn from someone who was always busy and spent all his time with family to a “shell,” who doesn’t speak. The primary school teacher from Prenton, said: “He was very active, always doing jobs around his house with my nan, loved driving, loved fishing and to play golf.
“He had bowel cancer and when he was in hospital he was getting very forgetful but not too noticeable, then when he came out of hospital he was even more forgetful and that is when he got diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
“Each year it has been really difficult. He has got to the point now where he is solemn, he looks right through you, he is always tired and he’s just silent. It’s been really difficult for my family.
He added: “It’s so sad for me to see. My dad was in the navy all my young life so my grandad was my dad really and now the roles have reversed and I care for him like he used to for me.
“My nan is 94 and she is his full time carer, with my mum who quit her job to look after him. My nan is very old school, she won’t have any help. She just says ‘what can we do? He’s safe, being fed, has a roof over his head. He’s just a shell, it’s so sad.”
Phil in the snow after one of his runs(Image: Phil Hayward)
Roy spent Christmas Day in bed, away from the family, which left Phil heartbroken so he decided he wanted to do something to give back and create awareness of the disease. He has now challenged himself to run 3,650km barefoot to raise money for Alzheimer’s Society.
What is Dementia?
According to the NHS, Dementia is a syndrome (a group of related symptoms) associated with an ongoing decline of brain functioning. This may include problems with:
- memory loss
- thinking speed
- mental sharpness and quickness
- language
- understanding
- judgement
- mood
- movement
- difficulties carrying out daily activities
There are many different causes of dementia. People often get confused about the difference between Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
Alzheimer’s disease is a type of dementia and, together with vascular dementia, makes up the vast majority of cases.
He said: “On Christmas Day he was in bed and it was sad. It made me feel like I want to give back to him and create awareness of Alzheimer’s and to help towards finding a cure in the future.
“So I’m running barefooted 10K a day for one year to mark every year my grandad has been suffering with Alzheimer’s. He is my best friend and it has broken my heart, which is why this is a very personal challenge.
“I’ve been out in the snow, which has been a huge challenge over the last few days, running on beaches, concrete, fields. It’s going to be mentally draining and the pain after running in snow barefoot hasn’t been good but I just want to do something.” You can donate to Phil’s fundraiser here.