GREG “Kell” Kelly is riding his Harley Davidson across the length and breadth of Australia, New Zealand and the United States to raise awareness for young onset dementia.
Kell’s Ride for the Future began early last month and has received plenty of media attention between his spots on national television and a documentary by the New York Film Academy Australia.
Turning the spotlight on the disease is exactly the point, as Mr Kelly explained when he spoke to The Border Watch this week during a one night stopover in Mount Gambier.
Diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia at 60, Mr Kelly said he was shocked to discover the disease was not only terminal but the second leading cause of death in Australia, second to coronary heart disease.
“When I was diagnosed they told me ‘go and get your affairs in order, you’ve got only six to eight years – it’s terminal’,” he said.
“I was sitting there going ‘I don’t believe what I’m hearing’, but dementia is the number two killer in Australia and is predicted to be number one in five to ten years.
“We have people in their twenties and thirties in Australia living with dementia and last year an infant was diagnosed at 11 months of age with infants Alzheimer’s in the USA.
“It is not only the 80 or 90 year olds but there is no media or awareness about dementia, we can’t let it be the number one killer and that’s where I had this idea to turn the lights on the issue.”
Mr Kelly said his ultimate goal was to inspire the biggest companies in Australia to donate to dementia research.
“We have got to get the top 500 companies in Australia on board,” he said.
“We need one of the chief executive officers to step forward and donate half a cent from every dollar profit into a medical research fund and all that money needs to go to the top 10 killers.”
Kell’s Ride for the Future has not only inspired a documentary, it was the inspiration for a collaboration between songwriter Alex Straker and former Australia’s Got Talent singer Matt McLaren.
“The song Kell’s Ride was just released on iTunes and it is about my diagnosis and the ride,” Mr Kelly said.
“It was written by Alex Straker, who is a songwriter and musician on the Gold Coast, after he heard me speak at a conference.
“Matt McLaren was the blind singer who was one of the finalists on Australia’s Got Talent.
“You can buy the song on iTunes and all that money will be donated straight to the people with the microscopes.”
Mr Kelly expects his ride across all three countries will be a nine month journey.
“I have a 10-week break before I ride New Zealand and then I have a six or eight week break and then I’ll be on the road in the USA,” he said.
“The money I raise here will be donated to Alzheimer’s Australia, The Australian Frontotemporal Dementia Association and Frontier, which is the main FTD Research Centre in Australia.”
Visit www.gofundme.com/kells-ride-for-the-future to donate to Kell’s Ride or follow his journey on Facebook.
