A HUDDERSFIELD woman is trekking across China to help raise money for Alzheimer's.

And she is doing so after the condition gripped her mum at the age of only 57.

Dawn Berry, 46, of Honley, is trekking 100km of the Great Wall of China as part of a fundraising event for the Alzheimer’s Society.

Her mum Sylvia Berry, now 66, was diagnosed with the disease nine years ago and for the past three years she has been cared for at the Tolson Grange care home in Dalton.

Dawn said: “My mum was diagnosed very young.

“She had just retired and her and my step-dad were planning on moving to Spain. They had looked at properties and had planned their lives out there but plans had to change.

“It was tragic really.

“The worst part of Alzheimer’s is watching somebody close to you deteriorate and you know that you are sort of losing them.

“You are just watching them slowly lose their abilities and their dignity to an extent.”

Dawn will be joined by her sister Simone Sains and her brother-in-law Peter Sains, from Jersey, on the trek.

She said: “I have been training. I have been going to the gym for a year-and-a-half and have been working to improve my lifestyle.

“I have tried to lose some weight in preparation so I won’t have as much to carry on the walk.

“Simone is very fit and she does karate and is in a football team so she will be okay.”

The trio will arrive in Beijing on October 7 to complete the trail.

Office administrator Dawn has already been busy raising funds for the cause.

She completed a bag-pack in Morrisons in Meltham last Saturday, to help raise the profile of the event.

The bag-packing team raised £568 for the Alzheimer’s Society.

There will be a group of 40 trekkers helping to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Society in China.

“We will stay at different hostels throughout the trek, one night we are staying in a small village where people are giving up their homes to let us stay, which will be an incredible experience.”

Each participant must raise at least £2,900 in sponsorship to take part in the challenge.

The Alzheimer’s Society’s fundraising area manager for Yorkshire and Humber, Simon Wallace, said: “We are thrilled that Dawn would want to do this for the charity.

“It’s a big adventure and a big fundraising opportunity, its the sort of thing that we would encourage more people to do.

“They are combining a fantastic trip to China with fundraising which is just wonderful.”