Brothers struck by family tragedy push boat out for dementia charity

WHEN June Hughes turned up at the door wanting to see her granddaughters, Carl Rice knew something was wrong.

- LOIS MCCARTHY

"She'd show up at our house asking to see her granddaughters - thinking they were still in school when they were in their thirties. It was like she had gone back in time."

June was going through the stages of a rare and devastating form of dementia - frontotemporal dementia (FTD).

And she was not alone. Months after she was diagnosed, so was Carl's father Tony Rigdon.

The same illness claimed both their lives.

Now Carl, 41, and his brother Jamie Rigdon, 34, have completed a gruelling kayak crossing of the English Channel, driven by a powerful and deeply personal mission to honour the memory of the two beloved family members and raise money for the local dementia charity that supported them.

The pair, from Neath Port Talbot, set off from Rye Harbour in England and paddled the 21 miles across open water to Boulogne-sur-Mer in France on August 22.

"A couple of years ago, my wife's grandmother, June, was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia," Carl said.

"She was in her seventies. It was a hard one to take - there aren't enough words to describe her, she was such a massive character. Then months later, I got the news that my biological father, Tony Rigdon, had the same form of dementia. He was just 45 years old."

Both June and Tony were well-respected members of the community known and loved by all who knew them.

"My gran was a well-loved figure in our community, especially around Briton Ferry Steel Cricket Club where she was the tea lady," said Katie, Carl's wife.

Carl added: "Everyone knew her - she had time for everybody. If a stranger stopped round for a cup of tea, she'd know your whole life story by the end of it. She was amazing. My father Tony was a martial arts expert based in Port Talbot but had worked across the UK.