Comfort Keepers Ireland Partners with the FTD Brothers on Their 32-County Challenge
Some stories stop you in your tracks.
Jordan and Cian Adams are two brothers who grew up knowing their mother, Geraldine, as the life of every room she entered - warm, generous, and impossible not to notice. Then came her diagnosis with early-onset frontotemporal dementia, and the years that followed changed everything for their family.
Both brothers have since learned that they, too, carry the hereditary gene mutation that causes this condition. Each will, in all likelihood, face the same diagnosis in their own lifetimes.
Rather than retreating from that knowledge, Jordan and Cian are running with it. Across all 32 counties of Ireland. Comfort Keepers Ireland is proud to be part of what they are doing.
Who Are the FTD Brothers?
Jordan and Cian Adams grew up in Redditch, Worcestershire, with their mother Geraldine, their father Glenn, and their elder sister Kennedy. Geraldine was a vivid, loving person who made every occasion feel special.
In June 2010, she was diagnosed with early-onset frontotemporal dementia. She passed away on 14th March 2016 at the age of 52. Her children cared for her throughout those years.
The diagnosis they now carry
Frontotemporal dementia, or FTD, affects the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain and can alter personality, behaviour, and language. In the Adams family, it is caused by a mutation of the MAPT gene - and it is hereditary.
After Geraldine's death, both Jordan and Cian sought genetic testing. Both received the same result: they both carry the faulty gene and are likely to develop FTD in their early forties.
For the brothers, that result became a reason to act. Over the past several years, they have taken on a series of running challenges, including the official London Marathon and a seven-marathons-in-seven-days feat across the UK. Together they have raised more than £400,000 for dementia research. Their Irish challenge is the most ambitious they have taken on yet.
32 Marathons, 32 Counties - What the Challenge Involves
Jordan will run one full marathon in each of Ireland's 32 counties, one per day, across 32 consecutive days — with Cian cycling alongside him throughout. That is over 1,300 kilometres on foot, through towns, along coastlines, and across every corner of the island.
Along the way, they pass through or stop at Comfort Keepers locations in Santry, Dublin, Navan, Monaghan, Galway, Cork, Waterford, and Wicklow - a chance to connect with the Home Support Workers and Healthcare Assistants who show up every day for families living with dementia in their local communities.
Funds raised through the challenge go to two organisations: the Alzheimer's Society of Ireland and The FTD Brothers Foundation, which supports research specifically into frontotemporal dementia.
Why Comfort Keepers Is Proud to Be Part of This
When Jordan and Cian announced this challenge, something they said stayed with us. Too many families receive a dementia diagnosis and do not know where to turn. That was Jordan's own experience when his mother was first diagnosed. It remains the reality for far too many people across Ireland today.
Visibility changes that. Awareness changes that.
Collette Gleeson, Comfort Keepers Ireland's CEO, spoke to exactly this at the announcement in Dublin:
"We're absolutely delighted to be partnering with you guys, bringing that visibility and awareness to dementia, to all types of services and supports that are required across communities."
Why that visibility matters
Our teams provide specialist dementia care across Ireland every day, supporting older persons and individuals of all ages living with dementia to remain at home - safely, comfortably, and with their dignity fully intact - for as long as possible.
The chance to bring that care into the open in real communities, county by county, alongside two people who have lived this experience from the inside, is one we do not take lightly.
This partnership is about awareness - real, community-level awareness that reaches families before the crisis point. The kind that means someone, somewhere in Ireland, hears about dementia support for the first time because two brothers ran through their town.
Follow the Challenge and Support the Cause
Follow Jordan and Cian's progress and donate in support of the Alzheimer's Society of Ireland and The FTD Brothers Foundation at theftdbrothers.com.
For families across Ireland navigating a dementia diagnosis and wondering what homecare support is available, our team is here to help.
