Frankie Ralph has run marathons before – but never in his life has he been close to running 100 miles in one day.
That’s all about to change though as the 29-year-old takes on the centurial challenge on January 2.
He plans to run 33 laps around his hometown of Lossiemouth to raise money for Alzheimer Scotland Dementia Research Centre after his close friend discovered he had the progressive disease aged just 33.
Michael Dunbar, also from Lossiemouth, was diagnosed with Early-onset Alzheimer’s in March after suffering from memory loss for more than four years.
Frankie has already raised more than £6,000 for vital research into the progressive disease via JustGiving.
Frankie told The Press and Journal: “This year I’ve seen quite a big deterioration in Michael. I think that was on my mind a lot when I was doing an ultra in October.
“I thought that fair enough, I could just do this run for myself. But instead, I could also do it for someone else at the same time.
“If I can at least raise some money and make a difference then it will be worth it.”
Starting at 4am, he is hoping to finish his challenge by midnight. He is inviting friends and anyone interested to join him.
Frankie thanks friends and strangers for ‘amazing’ support received so far
Frankie has been running for the past four years – though this will be the longest run he has ever done, with his previous longest run being 57 miles.
He said the support has been “so amazing” and especially “unexpected” as he has received many messages from people he doesn’t know.
Despite the pair having a four-year age gap, Frankie said he met Michael through mutual friends and bonded over music and going to gigs.
The pair then ended up “falling into the same friend group.”
‘Friends for life’ group chat never expected diagnosis
“We’ve been in a group chat – the eight of us – it’s sort of a friends-for-life type of thing,” Frankie explained.
“And you never expect one of the boys to get something like this.
“Nobody ever associates a 33-year-old with being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.”
Before the Covid pandemic, Michael spent time in Australia, working on fruit farms and studying.
He hoped to get a qualification to teach English and planned to use it to teach in Asia.
But when he returned to Lossiemouth in 2020 due to lockdown restrictions, his parents started to notice he was suffering from memory loss.
Michael was then misdiagnosed with anxiety, and shortly after moved to Dundee for work and to be closer to his best friend Stuart.
It was there he met his ex-partner Heather, and the couple had a daughter together, Grace.
However, his memory loss worsened and an MRI scan showed signs of cerebral atrophy.
Michael was later diagnosed with Early-onset Familial Alzheimer’s after extensive investigations and being admitted to Ninewells Hospital.
‘Michael is the most caring person you could ever meet’
His mother, Lorraine, said his family’s world has been turned ‘upside down’.
She said: “Our world has been turned upside down and we are devastated with Mike’s diagnosis and deteriorating health.
“Familial Alzheimer’s has robbed him of speech, mobility, independence and his ability to be a daddy to his little girl.
“His story is Michael is the most caring person you could meet and he has been extremely unfortunate to get Familial Alzheimer’s.
“There is no family history and it’s something we will never quite understand as to why him.”
Alzheimer Scotland Dementia Research Centre is a partnership between the charity and the University of Edinburgh and investigates the causes and treatment of dementia.
It also hosts the Scottish Dementia Brain Tissue Bank, which helps increase understanding of the disease and can help develop future treatments.
You can donate to Frank’s fundraiser here.
Conversation