A Fife motorbike enthusiast is to ride 11,000 miles across Europe in a bid to fund a dementia dog in memory of his late wife.
Dave Ramsay, 57, hopes to raise £21,000 to fund a dementia dog in honour of Marcia, who died in August 2021 after a short illness.
Marcia had worked as operations director of Alzheimer Scotland and was an advocate for people with dementia.
She was particularly passionate about the benefit of assistance dogs.
Dave, who lives in Cupar, says there would be “no more fitting tribute” to his late wife than a dementia dog in her honour, given her dedication to the cause.
Dundee’s assistance dog branch has agreed to name the dog Marcia after Dave’s wife – who was a well-loved colleague within the charity.
Dave said: “To have the dog named after Marcia – it’s her lasting legacy, she’d be chuffed to bits.
“I’d far rather have my wife but it’s the next best thing.”
Fundraising for Dundee dementia dog
To raise the £21,000 needed to train one dog, Dave will ride his motorbike along the Trans Euro Trail, which starts in Spain and finishes in Georgia, then back home again.
He will set off on Thursday and expects the trip to take around two months to complete.
Donations will be added to the £14,000 he raised last year through a mountain biking challenge, the Trans-Savoie Fifty Fifty – a 22,500 meter downhill descend in the French Alps.
He said: “A lot of people do marathons when they’re fundraising, which is great, but I wanted to do something different to try to get people’s attention.
“I didn’t expect to raise so much so quickly, it’s all down to Marcia’s friends.”
Dave plans to keep his donors up to date with his progress via a YouTube channel, which is yet to go live.
What is a dementia assistance dog?
Assistance dogs can help people suffering with dementia – an umbrella term for conditions which result in loss of memory, language, problem-solving and other mental abilities.
They will be assigned to a family for the duration of the dog’s life and will live in the family home.
These dogs are trained to the highest standard by Dogs For Good, on behalf of Alzheimer Scotland, as part of a unique collaboration project only in Scotland.
The dogs can respond to alarms to get patients to rehydrate, take medication, get out of bed in the morning and much more.
Dave says Marcia was enamoured by dementia assistance dogs from the moment she found out about them, and actively championed them and their cause.
He said: “The dogs really are amazing.
“They let people continue to live independently, within their community and they keep them connected.”
Fiona Corner, head of development at Alzheimer Scotland, said the level of fundraising Dave is carrying out on behalf of the charity will be “transformative”.
We’ll be looking at placing a dog in autumn.”
Fiona Corner, Alzheimer Scotland.
She added: “It will specifically allow us to train up and place a new dog in Scotland, which is amazing.
“If the target is reached with this next event, we’ll be looking at placing a dog in autumn.”
To donate to Dave’s fundraising efforts, visit his JustGiving page.
Conversation