Instagram story viewer> @brain_appeal> Tagged

The National Brain Appeal

@brain_appeal

5.1K

followers

594

following

Transforming treatments and changing lives for people with brain conditions. Supporting The National Hospital and The UCL Institute of Neurology.

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Raising awareness about FND 🧠
I shared my FND story with The National Brain Appeal. You can read my story on The National Brain Appeal website. #thenationalbrainappeal #fnd

24

0

More than £8,000 has been raised for Rare Dementia Support after a much-loved model car museum in Lincolnshire opened its doors for one final weekend. 🏁

On Your Marques was created by Jane and Chris Dring more than 30 years ago. What began as a passion for model cars grew into a collection of more than 1,200 models and pieces of motorsport memorabilia, alongside a café and four-lane Scalextric track.

The museum had been closed since 2023 following Chris’s ill health, and the family decided to give visitors one last chance to enjoy the collection before it was sold to help fund his care.

The weekend was organised by Chris and Jane’s nephew, motoring journalist Steve Fowler. Steve’s wife is living with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), a rare form of dementia supported by our team at Rare Dementia Support.

Visitors came to reminisce, enjoy the collection and take part in some Scalextric racing, while raising money for RDS through @brain_appeal

Steve said: “This was On Your Marques’ last lap and it was packed with people, laughter and Scalextric racing. We couldn’t have hoped for a better turnout.”

A huge thank you to Steve, his family and everyone who visited or donated. Your support will help families affected by rare dementias access specialist support, information and opportunities to connect.

Read the full story at www.raredementiasupport.org/the-final-lap

54

0

I’m judging Innovation Entrepreneur of the Year for the Great British Entrepreneur Awards, and after reading a lot of applications, here are five things I’d tell any founder entering awards at this level:

1. Bring evidence, not adjectives.
Don’t tell us you’re groundbreaking. Show us: traction, customers, pilots, results, data and growth. Separate what exists today from what’s still on the roadmap.

2. Credibility is cumulative.
LOIs, customers, partnerships, pilots, independent validation, Innovate UK funding, respected accelerators, academic and strategic partners, stack up the proof points.

Credibility compounds.

3. Know the unsexy stuff.
Risk. Regulation. Privacy. IP. Customer protection. Route to market. Execution. Strong founders think about the difficult stuff before anyone forces them to.

4. Prove there’s a market, not just a problem.
Who is your customer? Will they pay? Where’s the evidence?

Innovation without demand is still just an invention.

5. Don’t let AI write the personality out of your application.
Use it, but let judges hear YOU: your expertise, insight and conviction.

And don’t make the judge do the work. Make your evidence and opportunity impossible to miss.

Why do I feel qualified to say this? I’ve lived it.

I’ve taken a startup from idea → product → proof of concept → large-scale manufacturing; raised VC; secured Innovate UK funding; joined Big Idea Ventures and global programmes with UBS; and built academic and strategic partnerships with Imperial College London and the Bezos Center for Innovation.

I’ve survived a factory shutdown and rebuilt, while going through 13 years of an undiagnosed rare disease and three high-risk brain tumour surgeries in two years.

Today I’m an Innovate UK assessor, innovation mentor at Imperial College London, National Startup Awards and GBEA judge, and industry partner of the Bezos Center for Innovation.

Build the evidence. Build the credibility. Make yourself impossible to overlook.

#Innovation #Founders #Entrepreneurship #GBEA2026 #ukstartups

8

1

A special visit to Queen Square 💙

We were delighted to welcome our celebrity ambassador, actor Indira Varma (The Night Manager, Game of Thrones, The Other Bennet Sister), to Queen Square to see first hand how support for The National Brain Appeal is helping accelerate advances for people affected by neurological conditions.

Indira met clinicians, nurses and researchers and heard about a wide range of work supported by the charity, from glioblastoma care and research and familial frontotemporal dementia, to innovative robotic surgery and improvements in neurorehabilitation services.

She also visited The Hilary and Galen Weston Rare Dementia Support Centre, seeing how support from our community is helping transform research, treatment, care and support across Queen Square.

Indira has a personal connection to our work, having lost her father to motor neurone disease and her mother to Alzheimer’s, making the visit particularly meaningful.

Thank you, Indira, for spending time with us and for continuing to support The National Brain Appeal.

Photos: @manganpress Indira Varma sits on a garden bench with a member of staff outside The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery.

1k

13

You're all invited to Northamptons first Annual Snowball! 💯💯💯

Do you have a dress or a suit that you dont wear - nows the perfect time 🔥🔥

Where: The Engine Shed
When: 27 November 2026 (20:00 - 22:00)

See you there 🤑🤑

#snowsports #universityofnorthampton #snowball #eventorganizer #invited

49

6

(part 3) Last week was the UCL 200 Dementia Research Showcase 🧠🥼 bringing together over 40 stands, loads of fantastic researchers and SO much fascinating work being showcased! We challenged them to describe their work in 10 words or less! 🔬

#Dementiaresearch #neuroscience #UCL200

112

0

Chiari Malformation Awareness 🟣

You never know whats going on with somebody, I guarantee that to judge someone's actions and how they manage their health is only going to be detrimental to that individual.

However a person manages their disability is completely unique to them so please always be understanding of this, that person will always know what they need and how to manage their health better than you do so lets always be supportive!

Running is what helps me in a neurological episode, from the outside it may seem like there can't possibly be anything wrong with me, but I hope this example shows just how unique disability management is to everyone.

Running and exercise keep me healthy and I strongly believe that it can help other people in similar situations 🙏🏻

#nonvisibledisabilityawareness #chiarimalformationawareness #chiarimalformation #chiariwarrior

3

7

Over £870,000 raised at our annual @icelandcharity golf event yesterday!!! 💫 ⛳️

Our Foundation has now raised almost £40 million, and we are proud to support our partner charities across our focus areas of Dementia, Wellbeing, Children and the Environment.

Thank you to everyone involved organising such a massive event, and to all the attendees who donated so generously 🙏🏻❤️

Special thank yous: @gieveslondon @cascadeproductions @emelisande @myleeneklass 🕺 💃

132

7

💜 Alba, 7, is helping to shape the future of our children’s support services.

Alba was just 2 when her mum, Holly, was diagnosed with behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD). Holly has spent most of Alba’s life in a care home, and the family has been supported by RDS’s Head of Support Services, Nikki Zimmermann.

Recently, Alba and her dad Alex travelled by train from Teesside to London to visit The Hilary and Galen Weston Rare Dementia Support Centre.

Alba was invited to share her ideas about what children might like to see in the Centre’s family therapy room, helping us think about how we can make our services welcoming and supportive for children and young people affected by rare dementia. She also had the chance to explore the Centre’s art studio and get creative. 🎨

Nikki said: “Alba was delighted with the family therapy room and gave us lots of ideas for toys we could purchase and activities we can have to help children like her.”

Now Alba is taking on another challenge. Alongside her dad, she’s taking part in the 1.2km Mini Great North Run to raise vital funds for Rare Dementia Support through our charity partner, @brain_appeal

Alex said: “Without the help, guidance, support, empathy and love from Nikki Zimmermann, I dread to think where we’d be as a family.”

You can read the full story at www.raredementiasupport.org/alba

And you can support Alba and help Rare Dementia Support develop services for children and families affected by rare dementia by donating through her JustGiving page:

👉 www.justgiving.com/page/alba-braithwaite-1

165

14

Chiari Malformation Awareness Month 🟣

A post about my story 🫡

I'd really appreciate it if poeple could have a listen and a read 🙏🏻

Any questions, I'm happy to answer!

#chiarimalformationawareness #chiariwarrior #notalldisabilitiesarevisible #nonvisibledisabilityawareness #chiaristrong

76

11

I ventured into south London today in search of a good view of one of my favourite city sky scrapers. The Gerkin is almost impossible to see from north London now. With so many new skyscrapers built in recent years the building has almost disappeared from north London views.

I took the underground to London Bridge and walked along the river until I had a decent view.

A complicated painting with lots going on. The river, tower bridge. Skyscrapers, ferries, the pier and small boats. I spent about three hours putting the image together and plan to go back of Tuesday to finish it off.

#art #painting#london#landscape #londonskyline

60

5

💡 Join us for the UCL 200 Dementia Research Showcase!

Meet UCL researchers, take part in interactive exhibits, and understand more about how the brain works, via hands-on activities, games, visual displays and art works, including designing dementia-friendly environments, looking at the potential of ultra-fast MRI scans in dementia diagnosis and understanding stem-cell research.

🗓️ Friday 18 September 10am-3.30pm (Relaxed View 10am-11am)

📍 University College London, Wilkins Building, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT

🎟️ Find out more and book a ticket via the link in the bio.

#worldalzheimersmonth #UCLdementia #dementia #research

72

13