Next Friday Maysie will be setting up a stationary pedal bike on Timaru’s Strathallan Corner with the aim of pedalling for eight hours straight as a way to support his dad "Blue" May, who was diagnosed with the disease.
He said the idea for the fundraiser came through his friend, Aoraki Foundation chief executive Richard Spackman.
"I met Richard through all sorts of different things but we did play poker with my father who’s got dementia until a point where he couldn’t play any more.
"Richard was at an Alzheimer’s function dressed as Santa and he went up to my father and said ‘you’ve been a bad boy, Blue boy’ and through that he said to me you should do a fundraiser for Rosie (Chambers) and the crew at Alzheimers South Canterbury.
"That’s how it started and because my father is affected by dementia ... I thought I wouldn’t mind doing that at all."
The idea for fundraising on the spin bike came to him as he thought it was something that had not really been done.
"It’s in a good public place, [with] good public awareness, and it’s definitely a challenge. I’m sure my ass will be red-raw by the end of it.
"I go to Cbay and do spin classes but I’ve never done longer than an hour, so eight might be a bit extreme but I’ll be able to stay in one place because if I was cycling out in the country no-one would see me."
Alzheimers South Canterbury service manager Rosie Chambers said the organisation existed to help families navigate their way through a dementia journey.
"We provide that emotional and educational support to families, we help them problem-solve as challenges arise, and connect them through to other services as needs change.
"What I say to families is we’ll walk your journey with you and at your pace, so that’s what we do on a daily basis.
"For us fundraising is a really big part of what we do. We only get 5% of our funding from the DHB, so 95% of our operating funds I have to find in the community."
She said they had recently started a community fund through the Aoraki Foundation.
"The whole idea is that any money that’s raised, like what Maysie will raise, we’ll put into a community fund and that will enable sustainability in the longer term for all those families that are yet to come and to follow in our footsteps.
"A big part is looking at the here and now financially but also down the track. At the moment we’ve got a dollar-for-dollar matching campaign with the St Vianney’s Timaru Trust, so whatever we raise from Maysie’s efforts we put it in the fund and they’ll double that.
"It’s all about raising funds and raising the profile, normalising dementia, reducing the stigma and anything we do publicly really increases awareness and acceptance in the community."
Maysie said he hoped to even get his dad down to have a spin on the bike.
"Hopefully I’ll get the old boy on if I can.
"I’ll have three bikes there so if anyone wants to come along and support and do a few kilometres or minutes, it’s open to anybody to come along.
"I’ve been doing a lot of training to the point I slept for 11 hours from 7.30pm on a Sunday to 6.30am on Monday. I’ve never slept that long. My wife thought I was dead.
"You can’t really train for eight hours so we’ll see how it goes."
The goal is to raise $10,000 and Maysie said he was even prepared to sell his body, as an advertising platform to reach the total.
"I’ll wear a cap, a T-shirt, overalls, they can put a sign up in hour slots. I’ve sent quite a few emails out to businesses in town so hopefully we can drive a few bucks through that.
"Really I just want to support the work that Rosie and the team put in. The care that my father and my mother gets at the carer support group has just been fabulous.
"They’ve answered a lot of questions, kept my mother’s mind at ease and helped her adapt and go through the process with my father. It’s just a chance to give back and say thanks."
The Aoraki Foundation has set up a donation page which can be found on its website for anyone wishing to support Maysie and Alzheimers South Canterbury.
He has already raised just over $2000.
Donations can also be made via the "On ya bike Maysie" Facebook page.
