Jordan and Cian Adams have a high chance of developing dementia in their 40s<\/p>\n
18:00, 04 May 2026Updated 19:15, 04 May 2026<\/p>\n
Jordan Adams completes day nine of 33 day fundraising run in Louth<\/p>\n
Two brothers taking part in a marathon challenge for dementia research are set to smash a \u00a31 million fundraising target as they travel across Ireland.<\/p>\n
Jordan and Cian Adams have been diagnosed with a rare gene which 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.<\/p>\n
Jordan, 30, is running 33 marathons in 33 days to raise funds and awareness of dementia, with support from physio brother Cian, 25.<\/p>\n
The so-called FTD Brothers, from Redditch, Worcestershire, had set a target of raising \u00a31 million before they develop symptoms.<\/p>\n
Jordan began by running the London Marathon on April 26 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.<\/p>\n
The odyssey included competing in the Belfast Marathon on Sunday and will conclude in Dublin on May 28.<\/p>\n
On Monday, hundreds came out to support the brothers as they set off for their latest run in Dundalk, Co Louth.<\/p>\n
Cian told the Press Association: \u201cIt is really rare but familial frontotemporal dementia runs in our family.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat accounts for less than 1% of dementias.<\/p>\n
\u201cMum was one of 13 cousins, and eight out of the 13 had dementia in their 40s.<\/p>\n
\u201cMyself and my brother Jordan have been tested and we know that we carry the mutation that causes that FTD.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jordan said: \u201cI was 15 when mum was diagnosed. Mum went from being this vivacious, bubbly, life and soul character, she had this amazing gift of leaving her presence in every year. She was a beautiful person inside and out.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe noticed small but significant changes around 2008\/09 when mum became more socially withdrawn, she wasn\u2019t herself, and alongside that were the issues with memory and the basic, simple cognitive tasks like driving us to school in the morning became difficult for her.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy dad went on a journey to get answers and it took him two years to eventually get the diagnosis. She died at the age of 52. She was a shell of the human being she had been, and it was incredibly cruel to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jordan added: \u201cJust two years later, in 2018, my genetic consultant told me I am a carrier of the mutation. That gives me a 99.9% chance of getting FTD.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince then I have tried to use my diagnosis as a licence to live.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t have a choice with the cards you get dealt in life, but you have a choice at how you play your hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cFive years later Cian was given the diagnosis at the age of 23. Overnight the FTD Brothers were born.\u201d<\/p>\n
The brothers have raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for charity over the past eight years, but said their fundraising efforts and recognition have taken off since they began their latest challenge.<\/p>\n
Jordan said: \u201cWe have come back to the place my mum called home here in Ireland and we have been received like we could never have expected.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Irish people have got behind us so incredibly.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we are going to need some crowd control by the time we get to Dublin because it is getting a bit crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cian said: \u201cThe public reaction has been absolutely mind-blowing, unbelievable. We didn\u2019t expect the level of support we would get.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt takes Jordan about 10 minutes to get anywhere because he is like the selfie king now.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are grateful to the Irish people for getting behind two English lads.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jordan has battled aches and pains and blisters, but said the support he had received made it hard to feel tired.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cIt is motivation to get through each day.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have got another 25 marathons to run, we\u2019ve got a long way to go.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re just taking it one day a time. We\u2019ll just continue building momentum and hopefully the body can make it in one piece.\u201d<\/p>\n
The brothers\u2019 \u201clifetime goal\u201d of raising \u00a31 million was surpassed last week, and they are on track of pass \u00a31 million during their London Marathon and Irish challenge.<\/p>\n
Cian said: \u201cIt feels like the whole of Ireland is behind us now and people all over the globe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jordan added: \u201cIt has gone beyond the fundraising goal, it is the millions of people we have inspired around the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo have that sort of impact all over the world is even more important than raising a million pounds.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are so many families all over the world who suffer in silence, who have lived through dementia and felt that heartbreak and devastation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe finally feel like we are giving a voice to those families, they are being heard and now we have to use this to create real change.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cian joked that his brother cannot have a Guinness to celebrate the fundraising landmark as he\u2019s got another 25 marathons to run.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jordan and Cian Adams have a high chance of developing dementia in their 40s 18:00, 04 May 2026Updated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":472506,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[275],"tags":[868,18,135,475,474,19,17,23377],"class_list":["post-472505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-dementia","tag-eire","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-marathon"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116531862221163786","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/472506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}