That Gaby Roslin Podcast: Reasons To Be Joyful - Jordan Adams (The FTD Brothers)

Episode Date: March 24, 2026

Gaby is joined by Jordan Adams - one of the FTD Brothers - who tells us all about his journey with dementia and the importance of finding the joy in things every day. Jordan and his brother are on a mission to cure dementia before it takes their own lives. They have raised an amazing amount of money so far - and continue to do so, through running! You can find out more about what they're doing on their instagram - and - donate to via their go fund me page. And here's a little more about Jordan and his family's journey:"After our mum’s passing, our sister Kennedy felt a burning need to know whether she would inherit the same illness. Through family connections in Ireland, she arranged an appointment at the Dublin Neurological Institute with Professor Tim Lynch, who had researched familial FTD within our family.Kennedy underwent research studies and genetic counselling before receiving her test result in 2018. She had inherited the normal copy of the gene from our dad — meaning she would not develop FTD.For the first time in years, we had good news.Kennedy was able to move forward, start a family, and live without the shadow we had all been carrying. Her bravery gave Jordan the courage to follow the same path. In September 2018, Jordan received his result: a carrier of the faulty MAPT gene, meaning he will develop the same form of dementia as our mum.Jordan describes that diagnosis as a 'licence to live'. Knowing what lies ahead has sharpened every decision since — including the decision to ensure this disease is not passed on further. Tragically, earlier this year, Jordan and his partner Agnès learned during a pregnancy that their child had also inherited the faulty gene, and they were unable to continue. Their journey to start a family continues."

Jordan, this is so lovely to see you. I've been following you on social media for a while, the FTD Brothers. Jordan, what a pleasure to meet you. No, pleasure's all mine, thank you. No, no, no, it's mine. It's mine. Honestly, I really appreciate the opportunity to tell my story again.

I know there's a lot of people out there who are probably bored of hearing about it. No, no, no, not at all. And I think it's really important that everybody hears your story and also it's important on many levels, not just on a personal level, hugely personal level for you,

But we all need to learn more. We really do about dementia. But also do what we can do to help you. So it's a triple thing. So go on. Start with your story, please. Sure, yeah. So I have to take you back to kind of childhood.

I grew up in a small town in the West Midlands called Redditchshire, South of Birmingham. Two loving parents had kind of the most amazing childhood you could really dream. I afforded every opportunity in life in terms of education, health. We had fantastic holidays. very fortunate to have a shared family holiday home in Florida. So in that period of time, you know, like 20, 20, 25 years ago to be a child, you know, primary school telling people that you're going on holiday to Florida. And you're 29 now?

I'm 30 now. 30. Yeah, yeah. So tell people that you're going on holiday to Florida was not unheard of. So that was really cool. And yeah, mom and dad had such a great relationship and that kind of love overflowed into us as kids. We were my mom's absolute universe, you know, she was the type of person who, would never be late for any kind of extra-curricular activities.

She'd be front row at all your school plays. And to be honest, she'd have to drag her off the school playground because she'd just want to chat to all the moms. And she's very much into her music. She used to often turn up to pick us up from different events and school in particular with, kind of the latest Craig David album or Usher blaring out of her Toyota Ralph 4. And I still think of those memories a lot.

but mum's kind of behaviour and personality changed a lot around the period of kind of 2008, 2009. Did you realise? Did you notice it? I think not at the time because you're just living your life and, you know, it just seemed normal as you're growing up as a young teenager. I'd have been about 13 at that point in time. And you've got a younger brother as well. Yeah, younger brother who's five years younger than me and an older sister, Kennedy is two years older than me. And yeah, we just, well, I guess we just thought maybe, you know,

mom was having a bit of a tough time because a few years prior to this period where mom started to, we used to see these changes in mum. She just lost her father who she was very close to. You know, she used to see him daily in the care home that it was in local in Redditch. And that had a huge impact on her mental health for sure. And we thought it might be a bit of a knock on effect. And that's why ultimately it led to my mom being misdiagnosed twice between the periods of kind of 2009 and 2010 when she actually got a confirmed diagnosis. And how old was she in 2010? 47 years of age.

Yeah, so in that period of kind of 2009 leading up to her actual official diagnosis, she was misdiagnosed twice. So first of all, they diagnosed it with depression, which we can kind of see why with the impact of losing her father. But my mom was such an upbeat, positive character that something just didn't sit right with, particularly my dad and her friends. And I think my mom's friends had expressed a lot of concerns about my mom's behavior, repetitive questions, getting lost,

not knowing where she parked her car if she met with the girls, all those kind of things. So my dad really pushed for more answers and after more scans and more tests, they misdiagnosed her again with a silent stroke. And again, I think my dad, having had all these worries, had done a little bit of research into kind of my mum's family history.

And he knew that when he was with my mum, that her mum had died of something that he then thought was called Picks disease, which again is often. and another term for front of temporal dementia. So my dad kind of chased that and after... So that was known that he... So her mum died young as well?

Sure, yeah. I don't know the exact age, but yeah, I think she was early 50s, for sure. And yes, she died in a care home in Redditch where I grew up. Actually, about three months before I was born in 1995. So, yeah, my dad, knowing that information, push for more and try to...

to basically get to the bottom of whether this was something that was hereditary that had been passed on from my mom's mom. And that's when on the 23rd of June 2010, my mom was given the formal diagnosis at the age of 47 that she had familial frontotemporal dementia. And like anything, when you're given a diagnosis like that, I feel like you drop with this bombshell and from there, kind of, you just, you slowly pick up kind of all the pieces of shrapnel that are left behind as a family. And one of the most difficult things that I look back on for my dad. in hindsight, now being an adult myself and a 30-year-old, who would, you know, I'd love to have children in the future, having to break to a 9-year-old, 15-year-old and a 17-year-old that day, that, you know, their mom was terminally ill.

There was no cure. There was no treatment, and that ultimately we were all going to have to play a part in her care was something that I wouldn't ever wish upon anybody, any parent. Absolutely. I mean, truly horrific. But I suppose not enough was known then as mourner, now. But when you hear that your mum at 47 had dementia, people just think it's automatically go, that's people in their 90s, people in their 80s. That's so young. Yeah, I think the big

problem with dementia is it is a little bit of a taboo topic. It's becoming less and less so with kind of the more information that comes to, in front of the public eye with, you know, in the media, it's been talked about more and more. And also the great work by a number of different charities in the space. But I think the problem with dementia is that the stories and the lived experience behind it are often studed by people who are either in a really painful position where they're having to care for a loved one and it becomes something that they don't feel comfortable speaking about, or it's being sued by someone living with a diagnosis who simply can't articulate what they're going through or their experience. And obviously,

cases like my mom's in terms of which have a genetic cause, which are familial, are extremely rare. Although if you look at kind of the generalisation of dementia, dementias across the board, when you look at FTT, FD, FD actually attributes, I believe, to around 60% of cases that affect people below the age of 65. So in terms of early onset dementia, it's actually quite common FD. Common to be FTT? So how did she change? Because it was quite rapid, wasn't it?

I mean, how did she change for you as a young teenager? What was the difference that you could witness? Sure. I think, obviously, noting that period, kind of a couple of years, probably 18 months prior to her actual confirmed diagnosis, we started to see changes in mum's mood. Having been someone who would just love to have conversations with people, be very social, want to go out, she became much more socially withdrawn. She went through extended periods of low mood. And then from a cognition point of view, things, simple tasks such as taking us to school in the morning became quite scared. scary experiences for us as children, where a mum would kind of forget to check her blind spot

when moving into the fast lane on the dual carriageway or she'd forget how to control her clutch at times. And I remember her snowy day when I was at middle school, kind of around the period she got diagnosed. She burnt out the clutch on the hill at the top of our school after she picked us up and our uncle had to come and kind of rescue us. And just little things like that, when you look back over time,

they would have incrementally just built up and then it all made sense once we had this diagnosis. And obviously from there, my mum's condition just deteriorated over a period of six years. And obviously, my dad being in a position where, don't get wrong, he was financially in a better position than a lot of people who are living with a loved one with dementia. But he still had to go to work. He still had to pay bills and make sure there was food on the table. And that meant as a 15, 16-year-old lad, I felt that the responsibility kind of fell at my feet to make sure that my mom had the best care whilst those professionals were. weren't there, and alongside my brother and my sister as well, who did, you know, play a huge

role in that as well, but, you know, in terms of, like, taking my mum to the toilet as when she could no longer walk and making sure she was fed and watered. So you were her carer as a teenager, a young teenager, you were your mother's carer, and of course, because of your love for your mum, you do it, but it's still not what she would have wanted and not what you, it must have been unbelievably tough for you. Yeah, incredibly difficult. and I think that's, you know, as much as my diagnosis, you know, and we'll get, we'll get on to that, it affects me. I think living with that almost that trauma of having to do things from a mum that she, like you say, she would not have wanted me to do.

She would, she would hate the fact that her kids have had to do, you know, take her to the toilet, cleaning her up, she's had an accident, pick her up in and out of the bath and an almost, you know, manhandler to in and out of the front room. And, it's just my dad during the night to help her when she was just in a hospital bed for kind of 24 hours a day, you know. extremely difficult things that you know you do it out of like say the love and compassion that you have for somebody and I'd do it all over again I genuinely would for my mum or my dad but yeah it doesn't take away the the pain and that the feeling of injustice that I kind of struggled with

over the years but that's really important that you say that because any other young person who's who was a carer or is a carer who's listening to this right now that helps them because they'll think that's how I felt I sometimes it's it's cruel actually yeah it's cruel definitely and it's something that you know I've over the years I've had different types of therapy I'm still having therapy now to deal with kind of my my ever evolving circumstances because it's a really strange position that I'm in obviously every day that I get further away from that trauma of caring from my mom I get a day closer to getting dementia myself

let's let's let's talk about that so so you witnessed all of this and your your mum died six years later, but when did you get your diagnosis? So following my mum's death at the age 52 in March 2016, my sister had already started doing research, and obviously she knew it was hereditary. She was adamant because in physical appearance she looks so like my mum and my auntie had also passed away and kind of those Irish characteristics. Did your auntie have it as well?

So I've lost 12 relatives in total to the same familial FTD. So yeah, my mum, her only sister and my nana included in those 12, as well as many aunts, uncles and cousins of my mum too. So, yeah, Kennedy was very adamant that she wanted to know, and she set the ball rolling kind of around the period probably of 2017, late 2017, to get a trip across to Ireland to a professor called Tim Lynch, who works out of Dublin Neurological Institute, who had done a case study on our Irish family.

family and basically uncovered that it was caused by a rare genetic mutation called MAPT, which is kind of the third most common mutation which causes familial FTT. And gave Kennedy the whole backstory to it, gave her a lot of information and how it would affect her and what it would mean in terms of genetic testing and how they could do that. She actually took part in some research that day in terms of cognitive tests. They took some blood from her. but then she actually asked to be referred to our local genetics clinic in Birmingham and following that in early spring 2018 after completing a series of kind of mental health screening

and make sure she was in the right position to receive whichever result it was going to be she found out in spring 2019 that she's not a character that she was not a career how old was she at that time 23 right so she was in a position she'd been with her husband who's now a husband now for a long a time. She has always wanted to be a mum and she's a fantastic one now. We're two lovely girls who are a pleasure of being an uncle. I've Hallie and Harper are the absolute centre of our world.

But she was in a position where she couldn't move on with her life unless she had this result. But I really cannot articulate to people who listen to this, how brave my sister was in that period because she's two years older than me

and you know, living with that kind of dark cloud of uncertainty over your is really, really difficult. And it turned me to a stage if I became a very angry young man. I was getting into trouble on weekends, going out and getting involved in... Unsurprisingly.

Violence and causing, you know, bringing things to the doorstep of my dad that I've forgiven myself for him. My dad's forgiven myself for it. But it wasn't fair on him ultimately at that point. The things that I was doing and my actions obviously had consequences. But my sister was just so adamant

and so headstrong that she wanted to know. And without her bravery, I wouldn't be sat here now having a conversation. And obviously we'll get on to the things that we've managed to do and are kind of what we want to do in the future. But none of that would be possible. You know, we talk about the FTT brothers, but none of that would be possible without my sister. And she was really kind of the catalyst for it all.

And I admire her so much for the courage that she showed in that. And we both share a tattoo which says fortitude, which means courage in the face of adversity. And she really is kind of the biggest example of that. that I know. She showed so much fortitude in that period and again, having been inspired by her and seeing that she had a result that ultimately meant that she could now have a family move on with things, meant that I found the courage to want to find out for myself, but also found the courage to kind of take note of where I was at in my life from that point in time and recognize

that things needed to change and that ultimately I think I was hanging on to maybe this result that might be able to turn my life around, hopefully being one. that was the same as my sisters as not a carrier. And obviously I went through that genetic testing process following her result. And on the 12th of September 2018, my genetic consultant delivered the news that I am a carrier of the MAPT mutation,

which means that I have a 99.9% chance of inheriting familiar FTD. You were 22 and you got this diagnosis. I was 23. 23. Yeah, Keen was 22 and he got his diagnosis. But yeah, I was 23. And, you know, it's hard to,

it's hard to explain the emotions that kind of run through your mind during that period. I mean, the 30 days before when you're waiting for your actual test result was some of the toughest days I've had in life just because it's sleepless nights, you're constantly thinking about either side of the result and how you're going to live your life and all the impacts that is going to have on your future and living a shorter life. And so what I often explain to people is when I was actually. told the result by my genetic consultant, one of the first emotions I felt, apart from obviously, an overwhelming devastation and upset was one of relief as well, just because...

Then you knew. I knew I had the power of knowledge and I could at least move forward for my life. And I actually asked my genetic consultant, one question, as soon as she gave me a result, and I said, look, I'm aware there's no treatment, there's no cure, but what can I actually do to do something that's positive in this situation. And she said there's two things that I would recommend to you. And one is being actively involved in a research study, which I have been since 2019,

a research study called Jemphi, based out of the University of College of London, headed up by an amazing professor called Professor Jonathan Rower and a great team there. And I go annually for kind of a research visit to offer my kind of data to them that they can study, which hopefully will lead to treatments and a cure in the future with four familial FTT caused by the MAPT team mutation.

And the other thing she said was you could raise money for dementia research. And that just stuck with me in that moment. You know, I've always been somebody who's very sporty. Often, me and my dad talk about it, I was often kind of the last kid running the back of the cross-country, a little chubby kid. And I've always had this kind of inner belief of myself to want to prove other people wrong. And I don't think it was kind of about proving people wrong,

but I wanted to do something to really kind of hit back at this diagnosis and be like, okay, you're not going to stop me from still living some sort of life. And that's what I've said to people, often that I've used it as a licence to live and to fuel my whole mission. And you're always like that? Can you always be like that? There must be moments of darkness as well. Definitely.

It's, you know, I try my best now. I'm on social media and I have a platform to try and show people the low moments as well. and definitely it's definitely not playing sailing. I think that's where I think running has ultimately given me kind of a space to be able to really use that diagnosis as my fuel and my fire to, it's been a constant thread for my life and it's a headspace and kind of a huge part of the mission that I'm on

and that's kind of where, I would say, I use it as fuel in other parts of life as well. But there's definitely days, don't be wrong, where you, you know, I think about how the time that I have left. So these, you actually, sorry to be ignorant, do you actually know what, when it is going to kick in? So I don't know exactly when, but going off family history, obviously we've had 12 relatives all to lose their life.

Yeah. So the same disease, all becoming symptomatic in their mid to late 40s and all losing their lives within 6 to 10 years of diagnosis. Right. But obviously, I mean, we'll probably be in a better situation because we're very informed, involved in these research studies, so we'll probably be able to get a diagnosis far earlier than a lot of people who live with dementia, which is another topic that we're constantly advocating for. You know, quicker diagnosis means quicker treatment in the future and things like that.

But, you know, just looking at my mom, you know, she was 47 women she was officially diagnosed, but we're pretty sure she, around the age of 45, she was living with symptoms. So, you know, having watched my mom go through it, you, you, as soon as you have symptoms, you are slowly, I say slowly, over a period of six to eight years. My mom was stripped of everything that made the person that she was. So in terms of living a good quality of life and being the kind of articulate young man that I am now sat here, I probably have got 15 years. You know, I'm 30 years of age now.

If I go off what my mom has, I've got 15 years to live my life, to, I say, to the fullest, to the best possible way that I can. Are you doing that? Do you think you're doing that? I think I am. I think my problem is my, this mission that I'm on and because I'm so driven by it, I think I've immersed myself in it so much

that I've almost forgot the other half of it, which is my family and people I love. And giving enough of my time to that part of my life and experiencing things with those people as well. But I think in my head I've been so driven by the mission that I know that whilst being driven by this mission and doing this work, I know that I can create a better life for my family in the future as well with everything that I'm doing and kind of this wave that I'm kind of riding with, you know, I see the fantastic side of social media and AI and things like that. I'm currently looking to build an app to serve the dementia community using AI and things like that. And I'm very aware of the direction that's going. It could really have positive impacts on my family in the future and things like that. But then I do forget to think, okay, you need to live now and be present with your family and experience stuff.

But it's a really hard battle. But also you've got to think, you know, yeah, of course. I mean, you've got a younger brother who's also got the diagnosis. But as you said, you've got, was there nephews? Two nephews? Two nieces. Two nieces. Two nieces. So you've got two nieces.

you've got people around you, but you've also got you. Do you spend time looking after you? I would say probably not. I think I'll work. I struggle to set boundaries. And I think the thing is because I am a voice for so many people who I feel, I'm not saying that other people couldn't do what I can do because I don't doubt that there's so many inspiring people in the space,

but because I'm talking about such a personal topic all the time, it is something that's very difficult. And I think I represent so many people's feelings towards the situation when they're living with dementia or caring for a loved one with dementia or being at risk of getting dementia, that I'm almost put on this pedestal now on social media as if I'll constantly get in messages of you so inspiring and comments. And sometimes I look at that and I think, but I am still just Jordan,

you know, and it is really difficult. Of course. So it's a battle and it's something that actually I'm on a bit of a journey of self-discovery at the moment and taking a little bit of stock and the break from social media just to kind of evaluate what I need to reprioritize in life and make sure that I'm doing right by myself, but right by the people who ultimately have given me the support to make sure that I can chase this mission in the best possible way because I owe it to them. You also owe it to yourself because there is, obviously, this is reasons to be joyful, and it's what you're looking at is something that many people wouldn't even begin to imagine knowing.

But it's also you've got to, like you said, you're living each day because you don't know how long you've got, but you have a rough idea, but you've got to look after yourself and have moments of joy. Do you get moments of joy? What brings you joy? I do, but I think I need to prioritize having more of them. I love to travel. I love to experience new places. And, you know, when I look at when I've traveled in recent times,

it has been for work, you know, in terms of the content creation side, running marathons and things like that. I'd love to just actually go and experience places about the pressure of having to create, you know, content around it, things like that. Or rum. Yeah. Do you love the running? I do love running because it provides me with that safe space and that outlet

to kind of get away from all the chaos of the world at times. and that's why I do document some things to do my running, but a lot of my content is obviously based around the dementia journey, and running is almost that I try to protect that time as much as a train. And I don't often, I do sometimes do videos about it, but I don't often document training journeys because that is, again, that's kind of a co-mexswain and my time that I really enjoy. Do you sometimes want to not have your time

because of the thought about what you might think about in your time? Does that make sense? Do you give yourself time to take time? to take it all in. The good and the bad. Sure, yeah, I think having been through something ultimately so difficult, so young, and I had to jump through so many different traumatic hurdles, I think without even trying you become very self-aware,

or I've at least put myself in position where I've had, you know, guidance around me, support around me, whether that would be my dad or go into therapy where you have to look inwards at yourself. And, you know, I've often, over the years, you know, journaled or done written blog pieces. And now, you know, in some ways it's almost therapeutic when I do create content when I'm able to get things off my chest as well. So there's that element of it. And I've just started writing a diary only in the past week or so just because I feel like it really helps me

see it from a different perspective. Put my thoughts somewhere else on a piece of paper and then almost be able to go back and reflect on, you know, day to day. and things like that. And it's, yeah, it's like you say, it's looking after myself as well as trying to look after those around. I mean, you want to, I know obviously you want to change the future for your family and for other people,

but also being present in the moment and looking after yourself is really important because you're doing so much, you're doing so much and so much good for so many people. Do you, do you, this is a strange question. What do you think life is now? What do you think, you know, everyone talks about being human, but we all have a thought about what the importance of life is. And I suppose I've never looked into the eyes of somebody that's looking at life like you.

So if you don't mind me asking, what do you think life is? Sure. I think it's a difficult one to approach because I think you could have asked me that at different intersections in my life and I'd give you a completely different answer. because there's been often at times where I've questioned what is, you know, why do we have to go through some things that are so difficult? What's our point? But then when I look back at it, everything that I've been through has then given me an opportunity to then do something positive out, out the back of my experience,

or has enabled me to learn a lesson, which has meant that I either don't recreate something which has caused immense pain or had immense consequences. And I truly think that life is a huge lesson for us all. I do think that you are meant to go through life. And things happen and it's extremely difficult to manage some things, the trauma that we go through, the things that we experience, losing loved ones, you know, things around your health. But every one of those difficult experiences has taught me more

than any of the success I've had in any of my life. And I just think it's a huge, life is a huge lesson. And that's why I think I've immersed myself in this purpose, because I truly do believe that I'm here for a reason. And that reason is my calling is to be an advocate for the dementia world, for the dementia space. I speak for people like the 15-year-old me who didn't have an understanding of dementia, didn't have the care or probably the support in place to take that almost,

I don't want to say burden off my shoulders because like I said, if I had to do it again, I would. But, you know, that's why, you know, I'm so passionate now about supporting people now who are living with dementia and that's what this app. And our foundation will be all about is supporting people now with making sure they know exactly what support is on their doorstep, how they can get support, being able to speak directly to experts, having educational content online that enables them to learn in a safe space,

being able to interact with people in kind of a chat forum who are in a similar situation and just be able to feel one thing I've struggled with over the years is kind of validation and being understood because going through kind of high school, being a 15 year old and going into school, expected to study for GCSEs and that was kind of the main focus for all my peers. trying to go in and tell people that my mum was living with dementia and I was caring for. It was like, I can't speak to these people because they've got no clue what's going on in my life. They're never going to understand. And I often feel about those emotions that I felt.

And that is echoed in all kind of the stages of living with dementia and caring for a loved one. So many people feel misunderstood or isolated in a situation and feel like they've got nobody who can connect with them. And that's what we want to do. We want to kind of join up the dots, give people a little bit of hope today. educate the next generation or I think are going to play a huge part in kind of moving forward and taking us closer to a treatment and a cure and a better understanding. Do you think there will be a treatment of the cure? I do, yeah, I do.

Speaking plainly and honestly, and I'm not a pessimist, I don't think a cure will come in time for myself and my brother. I think if you look at kind of the movement we've had in cancer research, a lot of cancers, if they find them early enough, they're treatable now. Obviously the brain and dementia is probably far more complex than that. Because there's so many versions of dementia as well, aren't there? Something like 200 or Yeah, and I think it'll probably go on to be, you know, even more than that in terms of the variance and things. But it's one of those things. I'm hopeful. I'm very lucky that I'm very informed that, you know, I speak regularly with researchers. I've visited labs where they're working extremely hard and there's some really exciting things coming to the forefront.

You know, I think one of the most exciting things in recent times that they're kind of on the cuspb. hopefully in the next few years is kind of being able to diagnose dementia by the prick of a finger through a blood test and your doctor surgery. Something like that would be absolutely revolutionary. What's so interesting is though when that news broke,

everyone was having those conversations but would you want to know? But if it means that you knew that you could then take because there are tablets available now already that slow it down and there's, you know, we're all aware, more aware now for how important exercise

and weights are, weights are really important for brain health and obviously nutrition. So all of that, it is a good thing to know then, isn't it? Because then you can slow it down. Yeah, I think we all have this fear around health and particularly death in the Western world. It's not really something that we like to talk about, particularly Brits. I think we've got this kind of, it's a bit of a taboo subject, and we usually address it with some dark humour or chatting the subject.

That's common now how it is. And I completely understand that. It's a scary topic. But I think the way that that will change is if we can get earlier diagnosis, we know the treatments and the cure will come. And, you know, that can only bode well. If we've got early diagnosis and then there are treatments available, you'll getting treated earlier than you would have, you know,

in the current moment where people are finally, it's so difficult to get a diagnosis for a loved one. I speak to so many people kind of on a daily basis who are struggling to get the answers for a loved one. And it's such a. again and again again. Such a difficult you know emotional

tall on families and loved ones who all they want is a bit of clarity in the life so then they can go and get the support that they need but then when they get to that hurdle that there isn't enough support in place and we need to leverage the government to do more I mean we could go on about

all things to do the government and I'm not going to touch on that but you know there's so much more that needs to be done and ultimately I feel like I could sit and campaign and keep trying to leverage the government to do something, or we could do something as the FTD brothers ourselves engaged by, I feel like we cut through with the dementia community far better than a lot of these big organisations because we have lived experience. And it's also, I think in a lot of ways it's a shock to people because you're so young

and you're very honest and everything. Okay, so what can people do to help you? Because, of course, you're running and you raise money. So how do people help? What can they do? What do you want? What do you need? Engagement, more than anything, at this moment and time. You know, obviously I'm having a break from social media.

But when we talk about topics that are important around dementia, engaging with posts, whether that be sharing, liking, commenting, following the journey. Because as I say, we're working on some really amazing things to do with the foundation. And we're hopeful that if people engage enough, and when we launch that app, if we have enough people sign up to it, that we can get to a point where we can get real investment to develop something that I genuinely think will, will help like millions of people, not just here in the UK,

you know, there's some that could help people around the world. And I feel really passionate about that. But I think it starts with engagement and being informed and just wanting to kind of follow the story. And from there, we'll give you the tools to be able to help people or help yourself. And yeah,

I just follow along. Obviously, we're doing a huge chat. Well, I'm doing a huge challenge in April, starting with the London Marathon, where I'll be running my fifth London marathon with a 25 kilogram fridge on my back.

A fridge. Yeah, let's get to the fridge. You are carrying a fridge on your back. Yeah, I think ultimately, you know, I've been running marathons for a long time. We've also been a fundraiser for Alzheimer's Research UK predominantly since 2018. But a fridge?

Yeah. A fridge? Yeah. Why a fridge? Because as I say, when you're fundraising for a large charitable organisation, there's a lot of eyes on you because they have the right connections in the media world and PR. I'm also running the marathon in partnership with Buxton and Mines, having, you know, had my own mental health struggles. And that's wonderful that you talk about it. It's so important. I wanted to advocate for people in general because we all have, you know, mental health struggles or things that we have to live with.

but particularly for young men, I feel, you know, they don't talk. Men don't talk or particularly young lads don't talk, and I want to create that kind of safe space and create almost a normality around talking about things openly and honestly, and that doesn't mean you have to talk about them online, but start normalising having difficult conversations, having difficult conversations,

because that's something that, although there's, you know, on their mind, do great work, and that's who I'm running the London Marathon with Buxton, but I had the privilege of having a dad who made it okay to talk about, you know, difficult topics and we can speak openly and honestly and we can almost offend one each other but then forgive each other two minutes later and I'm very fortunate to have that relationship with my dad. How wonderful. How wonderful? How's he doing? Yeah, he's doing well. He's in a position where he's a January health kick so he's looking to

get into some better shape, shall we say, because he's had a few different health scares for himself recently. So he's, yeah, yeah, he's, he's okay. I won't divulge him because I think he's quite glad to. But no, that's his, but no, that's his business. But he's, no, he's okay. Yeah, he's okay. And he's obviously very proud of the work and the journeys that we're all on,

Kennedy Keene and myself. And he's extremely supportive. And obviously, after the London marathon in April, we're going. With the fridge on your back. With the fridge on my back. That evening, we fly to Belfast and we run 32 consecutive marathons. And is your dad coming with you? Yeah.

Dad will come with us. If he's in a position too, he'd love to kind of cycle and be on the support bike with me like we did on the length of the UK. Yes, like you did before. But we'll see. But yeah, it's about going to Ireland and connecting with kind of my mum's Irish roots. You know, all the relatives we've lost to FTT are Irish. And we really want to connect with the Irish people. And I've got quite a big audience online.

Okay. So how can people donate? So we've got a GoFundMe page that's live. It's on my Instagram bio or you can just search. the FTD Brothers go fund me and you can go ahead and donate. You know, however a small or biggie donation, we genuinely really appreciate it. To date, we've raised over 400,000 pounds towards our million pounds.

Oh my word, that's a fast amount. Not obviously on that page in particular, but since 2019. Never have so much money. Yeah, we've raised over 400,000 pounds towards our million pound lifetime goal as the FTT brothers. So we're hoping that we can put another huge dent in that. You know, I think when we got first. got started, we kind of had this monetary figure and thought that was going to be kind of

the driving force. But as much as donations are important, the awareness is just as important. So if you're not in a position to donate, please don't feel like you can't help. Follow the FTD brothers on our short form platforms, Instagram, TikTok, where we're posting regularly. Please engage. You know, if you've got any questions, you can reach out to us. I struggle to get back to everybody, but we try to get back to. I was going to say, you know, with the amount of people, the followers you've got, how you can contact everybody. But I think it's fantastic what you're doing I really, really do

That's why I wanted to speak to you And I also love the way you look at life I think it's really important for us all Because, you know, everyone wakes up in the morning And go, oh, I've got to do, oh, it's raining Oh, I've got a wrinkle Oh, my roots Oh, no, oh, I don't want to go out for those people

We need to just stave yourself And we need to take a step back and go Yeah, okay, we're alive Yeah, definitely, I know But what we'll say is that I'm still human and I still have days like that myself where there's moans and groans. But I'm in, I say, a fortunate position because I often say to people as much as it's been a curse, it's also been my biggest blessing because I have to shake myself sometimes. I think you haven't got time to moan, you know, that life is extremely short and you need to make the most of it.

So, yeah, I think there's definitely things where we can all shift our perspective and just take time to pause and think about what we're prioritising in life. And I still have periods of my life that I do that I'm doing it at the moment. So, yeah. And you need some time out for you as well. I want you to just make me a really, just a little promise that you're just going to have some time to yourself. Yes, I will do. Thank you.

This is reasons to be joyful. And I know it's a very stark, tough conversation that we've had, but we always ask people what brings them joy? What brings you joy? Spending time on my family, honestly. I've been very lucky to have an extended family on both sides who have been extremely supportive. and I look back to kind of the best moments in my life,

whether that be kind of Christmases and birthdays growing up when my mum would absolutely spoil us or just spending time on family holidays, special locations, like I mentioned earlier in Florida, to seeing Kennedy's two girls grow up and being a huge part of their lives, yeah. And then obviously marrying my wife in 2024 as well, I was an amazing day surrounded by all those people that we love.

So, yeah, family, I would say, bring me the most joy for sure. Well, enjoy every single moment that you have And I'm following you, I'll be posting stuff and anything And if everybody can, as you said, it's the FTD Brothers Thank you Jordan, thank you