‘We knew it was serious when granda struggled to put his jacket on’

Luke Hodgson began to see a different side of John Ridley in his later yearsLuke Hodgson and his grandad John Ridley(Image: Luke Hodgson)

A man sensed something was wrong with his grandad before his heartbreaking diagnosis. Luke Hodgson, 26, who lives in Mossley Hill, has fond memories of growing up with John Ridley, who he refers to affectionally as his ‘granda’.

Luke said that John was a hardworking man who built the house he lived in. Luke, who grew up in the Penrith area of the Lake District, says John and his wife Connie were often treated like local celebrities due to his status in a nearby town. But a few years ago, John was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and double dementia. This is where a person experiences the effects of more than one type of dementia simultaneously, a few years ago.

John died last year when he was in his 70s. Speaking to the ECHO about what John was like, Luke said: “He was a bit like the head of the family. He was a builder and really hard working.

“He built his own house and it was the hub for the family when everyone would go to. He’d go to work, then get home, have his tea and then just work on the house all night.

“He was just a properly determined fella. They lived in a very small, very rural area called Brampton in the north of the Lake District. My nana was on the parish council.

“When you were there as a kid staying with your nana and your granda, you felt a bit like a local celebrity. You’d walk into town and everyone would be like, ‘are you Connie? Hiya John, is this Luke?’ Everyone seemed to know them.”

Luke now lives in south Liverpool(Image: Luke Hodgson)

This changed when John was diagnosed, but before that it was hard to see that something was wrong. Looking back on what the first signs were, Luke said: “I think he was being little bit forgetful but you that can be put down to just getting older.

“I wasn’t up here as much as I got older because I’d moved to Liverpool, but sometimes family members would be a bit like, ‘we’ll keep an eye on him, he’s probably just getting on a bit now’ and things like that.

“Then it started to get a bit more serious. There’s just being forgetful and forgetting what you did yesterday.

“But it’s when you start to forget faces, forget names or struggle to put on your jacket, the basic things that you’ve done for many years – that’s when you realise there’s a bit of a problem there and reach out for a bit of guidance. From there, he got diagnosed.”

Luke says he began to see a different side to John as the years progressed. He said: “Obviously, I’d be up there less to see them. When you’d go up, you’d see a lot more differences in him than perhaps people that are going there more often.

“It was strange because you almost got to meet like a whole new person. Growing up, he was a very strong-willed, very hardworking sort of man.

“Then he got diagnosed and he became softer and he’d have a bit of a laugh. It was like getting to meet someone new and he’d tell you stories about his childhood. He obviously started to deteriorate in the last year of his life.”

Luke is running over 200Km to raise vital funds and awareness for Alzheimer’s Society(Image: Luke Hodgson)

John received backing during his grandad’s illness from The Alzheimer’s Society and has been embarking on a challenge this week to raise money for them. Over the last few days he has been running from Liverpool to Brampton. The distance totals over 200km and over 2,100m elevation. It is the hardest physical and mental challenge he has ever undertaken.

Speaking to the ECHO from Penrith yesterday, Luke said: “Since I started on Monday, my donations have doubled. People have been getting behind me and there’s been loads of messages of support which have been really lovely.

“This has been brutal, I’m going to be honest with you.But it’s something that it makes you think, he was hard working and determined, so I can get my head down and I can work just as hard doing this. So it has been good. Been, it’s been humbling, but it’s been a crazy experience.

“I’m just excited to get to Brampton, see me nana and then spend a bit of time with the family. The donations have been doing quite well, so it’s all worthwhile.”

You can find out more about Luke’s fundraiser here.