Fundraising Wick brothers raise over £2500 to raise awareness of CJD and in memory of their grandfather
Three very big-hearted young brothers from Wick are raising charity money in memory of their beloved grandad and have already hit 500 per cent above their target.
Six-year-old Aly, three-year-old Cael and baby Blair, just 11 months old, have cycled and walked 100 miles to raise money for CJD in memory of their grandfather Ian Jappy.
Their mum, Erin Jappy, said the brothers had never met Ian as he passed away in 2016, but the family keep the memory of ‘Gaga Ian’, as he was affectionately known, very much alive in their house.
“Using the Strava app to track our miles, the boys were able to complete their 100 miles in just 27 days,” said Erin.
Each day, their progress was logged on both the JustGiving page and the Facebook pages of their parents, Erin and Euan Jappy. “Blair is much too young to go a bike so we included his miles walked in the pram,” added Erin.
Ian passed away in November 2016, aged 59, shortly after his heartbreaking diagnosis of sporadic CJD. “Though our boys never met their Gaga Ian, we talk about him every day, which inevitably brings questions from our curious six-year-old.
“We agreed that it might be really nice to do something fun while raising money to help other people being diagnosed with CJD, or their families. Having done this in 2022 for Macmillan, raising £1500, it was a great way to get the boys outside and also doubled up as a way to get Aly to learn to use his balance bike. It has served the same purpose for Cael this time around.
“The second purpose of our fundraising was to open up conversation about CJD, the different types, what it is and what it isn’t. The mainstream media used the derogatory term ‘mad cow disease’ during the BSE outbreak. In humans, this is now known as variant CJD and is not what Ian died of.”
Erin says that the lack of awareness means that people can shy away from conversation about it. “The important message for us as a family was to stress that though the odds are low, it’s possible to contract this awful disease.”
The fundraising page is still open, and you can donate at: www.justgiving.com/page/jappyfamily100
The boys’ hoodies were donated by Caitlin at Wick Laundry. The CJD support network supplied T-shirts.
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