A Lowestoft woman, who carries a rare gene mutation that causes early onset Alzheimer's, has reunited with the uncle she didn't know she had to complete an epic road trip.

Sophie Leggett, 45, headed out on the special road trip two months ago with her 'lost' family to raise money for Rare Dementia Support.

And now, having raised £4,800 during the tour of the UK, they are hoping for a further boost - because if they can raise a further £700 it will unlock £5,000 of match funding from an anonymous donor.

Having been reunited through an ancestry website, Mrs Leggett, from Lowestoft, and Alistair Davison, 49, from Somerset, joined forces with their partners to complete the road trip around parts of the UK, undertaking weird and wonderful challenges along the way in exchange for donations.

Having met for the first time nearly 10 years ago - Sophie’s grandfather is Alistair’s father - Mrs Leggett shared the distressing news that his early death would have been due to a rare form of dementia, Familial Alzheimers Disease (FAD), that both her mother and aunt had died young from.

In 2018 Sophie underwent genetic testing and discovered she carried the gene mutation.

After her mother and aunt developed symptoms when they were in their 40s and died in their 50s, this confirmed her worst fears that she would develop symptoms soon.

That same year Alistair was diagnosed with FAD, although his symptoms started a few years prior to this.

With the families having been helped by Rare Dementia Support, funded by the charity The National Brain Appeal, they teamed up for the road trip.

Sophie and her husband Chris travelled in a bright yellow American school bus, nicknamed Barbara, with Alistair and Melinda in a hired motorhome, nicknamed Evie.

The trip started in Lowestoft and took in campsites across the UK, with one of the challenges seeing them complete five different yoga poses in a supermarket wearing tutus.

Mrs Leggett said: “The trip was a rollercoaster of emotions.

"It would be easy to get really down about knowing what the future holds for our family but for us it’s all about squeezing every moment of joy out of our lives while we can!"

Melinda Davison added: “It was two weeks of chaos but also the most fantastic and intense experience!"

To make a donation visit justgiving.com/fundraising/theoddsquadroadtrip