A FAMILY is raising money for charity in memory of their grandmother.

David Blitz, from Chigwell, is taking on a number of challenges with his two children and his wife to raise money for Alzheimer's Research UK.

Mr Blitz will attempt five obstacle courses, a number of 10k runs and a 16km race, and will be joined by his two children, Aaron, five, and Matti, four, and his wife, Candice, for the last kilometre.

The 36-year-old was close to his grandmother, Rita, when she passed away, aged 93.

He said: “I was really close to her.

“She was a really active person. She would go swimming once a week, and even cycling when she was younger and would do anything for the family.”

Rita had a big family to look after her when she was living with Alzheimer's as she had 18 great grandchildren and 11 grandchildren to look after her.

Mr Blitz says he saw a big change when she got Alzheimer’s, but always knew she was the same person.

He said: “I saw a massive change. We were all quite shocked to see such an active person deteriorate very quickly because she was such an active person, that really was the hardest part of her decline. It was really sad to see. We did not realise it would get this bad this quickly. The disease itself is really crippling.”

Mr Blitz is not unfamiliar with fundraising, and chooses a new charity each year to donate to.

He and his son ran last year, and with the money raised, donated cups and pillows to the hospice where his grandmother was staying.

Mr Blitz has so far taken part in a Spartan Run, where runners have to overcome monkey bars, tyre flips and sandbags.

Their target this year is £5,000, and they have raised £1,500 so far.

Mr Blitz added: “Our target is £5,000, but we are hoping to beat it.”

Kenneth Foreman, sporting events manager at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said: “There are 850,000 people living with dementia in the UK. We are the UK’s leading dementia research charity funding pioneering research into preventions and treatments for dementia.

“We couldn’t do it without supporters like David. We can’t thank him and his family enough for taking on this enormous challenge for us, and we wish him the best of luck.”

You can donate to Mr Blitz’s cause at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/David-Blitz.