Now living and studying a Bachelor of Nursing in the Illawarra she’s determined for the month of February to complete a ‘My Memory Walk and Jog’ to help Australians get active and beat dementia.

Ms Wilson said she decided to participate in the activity due to her own experience of dementia with her grandmother.

“This walk means more than anyone could ever imagine, I will be walking for my grandmother she raised me as if I was her third child and it saddens me everyday that she now can’t remember who I am.

“She played the mother, the grandmother and most importantly the best friend,” she said.

Dementia is slowly becoming Australia’s number one killer with an estimated 436,366 Australians living with the condition and Ms Wilson said she wanted to help make a difference.

She said she could never imagine her grandmother who was once a school teacher within the Lithgow and Illawarra community was slowly losing everything she once was.

“She’s a lifeless person who struggles to form a sentence. Someone that I once called magic because I was sure she knew everything.

“But day by day she is forgetting how to hold a conversation, forgetting who I am and forgetting basic everyday life skills,” Ms Wilson said. 

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Ms Wilson also said even though her grandmother was suffering, her beautiful smile still remained. 

Ms Wilson said she will also be walking for the residents from an Illawarra nursing home where she works as a carer five days a week.

“For the past three years I’ve worked within an aged care facility and everyday I see the struggle residents go through with dementia and it breaks my heart to know my grandmother is one of them,” she said.

By doing this walk Ms Wilson said she aimed to help families understand dementia and early signs they can look for in their loved ones.

Starting from February 3 to March 3, she will be incorporating 7 kilometres into her everyday commute to work and gym.

“I will walk 7 kilometres a day, adding up to over 200 kilometres before the big final walk,” Ms Wilson said.

She said she hoped to not only raise money for her grandmother but to achieve awareness for dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

“There is no known cure for dementia so the most important thing is that people recognise when it’s beginning,” she said.

Ms Wilson aimed to raise $700 between February and March.

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