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You told me your name, but I forgot it.
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It's Crystal.
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I know, but I will forget it.
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Justin, you go ahead.
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Hi, I'm Justin.
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Hi, Justin, nice to meet you!
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My name is Miriam.
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Hello.
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Do you know how old I am?
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Uh, 28?
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Oh, 28, oh, I wish!
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How old do you think I am?
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Uh, 80?
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Oh. (laughs)
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From 28 to 80?
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Sorry.
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What do you do at home?
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Well, I'm retired, but I used to be a lawyer.
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About seven years ago,
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I began to forget things.
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I forget, like, everything.
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You forget everything?
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Oh, my.
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I've got Alzheimer's, have you heard of Alzheimer's?
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No.
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Alzheimer's is a disease.
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Is it contagious?
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No.
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Can you die from it?
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Yes.
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Oh.
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Yes, what's happening in my brain
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is that my brain cells are dying.
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Do you know what genetics is?
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It's like, it's your genes, you know,
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and so, um, I forgot where I was going.
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Genetics, I forgot what I was going to say.
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Oh, what's that, it's that thing
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that goes around eating things?
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Oh, you mean Pac-Man?
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Pac-Man, yes.
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Well, there's a Pac-Man in my brain,
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going around eating my brain.
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Yeah!
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And there's nothing right now that can stop it.
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Maybe you could just create a ghost in your brain,
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and then eat Pac-Man and go bye-bye,
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and then the ghost goes away.
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Sure, absolutely, why not?
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Do you ever forget things?
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When I put the remote down and go to get something,
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when I come back in the room, I forgot where the remote was.
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Have to search the entire room.
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My dad is kinda like that, when my mom asks him
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to do something, he doesn't do it.
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Every single time, and he always says,
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I forgot, I forgot, I forgot.
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I forgot, I forgot, I forgot.
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I forgot, I forgot, I forgot.
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What else do you forget?
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How old I am, sometimes I think I'm six.
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I create a system.
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I've got a Google calendar on my laptop,
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and on my cell phone.
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My calendar is basically substituting for my brain
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because my brain isn't working.
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Have you heard, you know what Alzheimer's is?
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Yeah, you said that earlier.
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Ah, yes.
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It's okay.
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It's okay.
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You know, I'm 70 years old,
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but I'm becoming... - Wait, you're old?
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I'm, yeah, but I'm going to be becoming a baby
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because I'm going to forget how to eat,
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I'm going to forget how to do things.
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A couple of days ago, I didn't know where I was.
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It took like five minutes for me
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to figure out where I was in my apartment.
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What would you do if you got lost?
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There's a trail right by our house.
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- That trail could go anywhere, Justin. - No!
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- No, not follow the trail. - If there was two!
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- If he goes along to the trail,
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- I don't go onto the trail.
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- I would just... - Pass our neighbor's house.
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Then a left... - Okay, okay.
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- Okay, I'm confused.
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- Whoa, whoa, whoa, I would just rest.
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I am totally confused.
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Okay, um, what was I saying?
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You know what's happening with me right now?
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It's called sundowning.
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And sundowning is when somebody who's got Alzheimer's
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has a difficult time remembering and following,
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and so that's what's happening to me right now.
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Does someone take care of you?
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No, no.
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I live alone.
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But I've got a lot of friends who check up on me.
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Yeah, me, too.
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I have such, so so so many friends,
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I can only remember a few of their names.
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Oh, I can't remember names.
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Sometimes I get sad.
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But not often.
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I don't know.
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But I try not to get upset because getting upset
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just makes it worse, and so...
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I have hope that there's going to be a cure
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to stop Alzheimer's.
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Stop!
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Oh.
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Come here.
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(clapping)
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Hello, guys.
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Thank you so much for watching.
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Don't forget to hit the subscribe button,
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and go down to the description box,
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and there's a link to our store.
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You should go buy some merchandise.
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Thanks.
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Buh-bye.
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(upbeat music)