From a former superbike champion with major spinal injuries to a librarian chasing a rare triple crown, the London Marathon is brimming with stories. But as fans watch the runners, they’ll notice one man running with a fridge on his back. Some will watch in awe, some may watch in shock, but for those wondering, the Adams brothers have a deeply personal reason for doing so.

Older brother Jordan was only 15 when he learned that his mother had frontotemporal dementia (FTD) at age 47. By 52, she tragically passed away. Then, when he hit his twenties, Adams learned that he had the gene that can lead to FTD. And so did his brother, Cian, six months later. It meant that they had very little time to do anything, and they decided to focus on raising awareness.

“We’ve recently, last year, incorporated the FTD Brothers Foundation, which we’re raising money for at this year’s London Marathon, where I’ll be carrying a, a twenty-five kilogram fridge on my back,” Adams told BBC Breakfast.

Now, in his thirties, Jordan Adams is currently running the 2026 London Marathon, having just passed the 40km mark at the time of writing. But the 30-year-old is not done; after this, he and his brother plan to run 32 marathons, and they plan to do it in 32 days, running across all 32 counties in Ireland.

“Followed by another thirty-two marathons in every county in Ireland to honor my mom’s Irish roots,” Adams explained. “We’ve set a monetary goal to try and raise a million pounds before we die of dementia.”

“I’ve got the best part of ten to fifteen years to bring hope to millions of families who are devastated by it.”

It’s a truly immense cause, but for Jordan and Cian, it means more. That’s because once diagnosed with FTD, patients will only live for another six to ten years at most. And for the Adams brothers, it means that they’ll only have the next ten, maybe fifteen years of their lives left. Furthermore, as genetic carriers, they have a 99.9% chance of getting the fatal disease.

In fact, that’s more or less a guarantee for the two brothers, especially as their family unfortunately carries the gene. So far, four of his Irish grandmother’s five siblings and eight of his cousins have already passed away from FTD. And it led to the 30-year-old wanting to raise more awareness of the disease, aiming to raise close to £1 million while he can.

Half of that money will go to the Alzheimer Society of Ireland, while the remaining will go to the non-profit run by the two brothers. That, however, will come at the end of his challenge on May 28. That’s because the Adams brothers plan on starting their challenge in the North of Ireland before moving west.

They’ll eventually go across the west coast, the south, and end up in Dublin, where the duo will finish the challenge. But for Jordan Adams, the distance and the money raised will only tell half the story.

Jordan Adams reflects on his mother and his own FTD diagnosis

This challenge marks a remarkable response from Jordan Adams. This is especially remarkable given that the 30-year-old suffered from depression after his diagnosis. However, in his own words, “family and friends” helped get him out of his rut, and then he turned to running. Since then, he and his brother have run the length of the UK, completing 28 back-to-back ultramarathons.

They capped it off with three short ones, and as Jordan put it, it was essentially “averaging a marathon a day.” Not an easy thing to say, but given the weight of what he’s carrying, the physical effort almost feels secondary. After all, Adams had to deal with watching his ‘bubbly’ mother deteriorate rapidly from the disease as a teenager.

“I remember that day very clearly,” Adams told Extra.ie. “My dad pulled myself, my brother who was nine, and my older sister who was 17, aside and explained that our mom was terminally ill and that there was no treatment and no cure, and that she had an estimated six to ten years to live.”

Unfortunately, his mother tragically passed away five years after being diagnosed, when Jordan was in his early twenties. Soon after, they learned that it is a hereditary disease, thus they stood a chance of being carriers. It meant that he, his younger brother Cian, and his older sister Kennedy had to get themselves tested.

“My older sister received the diagnosis that she’s in the clear, so she’s not a carrier,” Adams added. “At the age of 23 my genetic consultant delivered me the news that I am a carrier and I can expect to get symptoms in my mid to late 40s.

“There’s no treatment. There’s no cure. Just six months later, my little brother Cian received the same diagnosis, so overnight the FTD brothers were born.”

But it’s exactly why he’s running with a fridge, as a visceral symbol of what he and other FTD carriers are going through. And now, having just crossed the 40km mark, Adams continues to push forward, with his cause driving him. Because for him and his brother, every step is a tribute to their mother and a race against time to make it count.