Alanna Shaikh: How I'm preparing to get Alzheimer's

Translator: Morton Bast Reviewer: Thu-Huong Ha

Translator: Manuela Seráns Reviewer: Terra Poniente

I'd like to talk about my dad.

Gustaríame falarlles de meu pai.

My dad has Alzheimer's disease.

Meu pai ten alzhéimer.

He started showing the symptoms about 12 years ago,

Comezou a mostrar os síntomas hai uns 12 anos,

and he was officially diagnosed in 2005.

e foi diagnosticado oficialmente no 2005.

Now he's really pretty sick. He needs help eating,

Agora, de feito, atópase bastante enfermo. Necesita axuda para comer, para vestirse,

he needs help getting dressed, he doesn't really know where he is

non sabe onde se atopa nin en que momento.

or when it is, and it's been really, really hard.

Isto está a ser moi duro.

My dad was my hero and my mentor for most of my life,

Meu pai foi o meu heroe e o meu mentor durante boa parte da miña vida,

and I've spent the last decade watching him disappear.

e levo unha década vendo como desaparece.

My dad's not alone. There's about 35 million people globally living with some kind of dementia,

Pero non está só.

Arredor de 35 millóns de persoas a nivel mundial teñen algún tipo de demencia,

and by 2030 they're expecting that to double to 70 million.

e para o 2030 espérase que a cifra se dobre ata os 70 millóns.

That's a lot of people.

Iso é moita xente.

Dementia scares us. The confused faces and shaky hands of people who have dementia,

A demencia asústanos.

As caras desorientadas e as mans trementes da xente que a padece,

the big numbers of people who get it, they frighten us.

o gran número de persoas que a teñen...

Todo iso atérranos.

And because of that fear, we tend to do one of two things:

E por culpa dese medo, tendemos a facer dúas cousas:

We go into denial: "It's not me, it has nothing to do with me, it's never going to happen to me."

Aferrámonos á negación:

"Non son eu, non ten nada que ver comigo, nunca me vai pasar."

Or, we decide that we're going to prevent dementia,

Ou ben, decidímonos a previr a demencia,

and it will never happen to us because we're going to do everything right and it won't come and get us.

pensando que nunca virá por nós, porque o estamos a facer todo ben para previla.

I'm looking for a third way: I'm preparing to get Alzheimer's disease.

Eu estou buscando unha terceira vía: estoume a preparar para ter alzhéimer.

Prevention is good, and I'm doing the things that you can do to prevent Alzheimer's.

A prevención é boa, e propúxenme facer todo o que se poida para previlo.

I'm eating right, I'm exercising every day, I'm keeping my mind active,

Estou comendo ben, fago exercicio todos os días, manteño a mente activa...

that's what the research says you should do.

Iso é o que as investigacións din que deberiamos facer.

But the research also shows that there's nothing that will 100 percent protect you.

Pero esas investigación tamén din que non hai nada que poida protexernos ao 100%.

If the monster wants you, the monster's gonna get you.

Se o monstro vai por ti, atraparate.

That's what happened with my dad.

Iso é o que pasou co meu pai.

My dad was a bilingual college professor. His hobbies were chess, bridge and writing op-eds.

Meu pai era profesor universitario bilingüe.

Os seus pasatempos eran o xadrez, o bridge e escribir artigos de opinión.

(Laughter)

(Risas)

Aínda así ten demencia.

He got dementia anyway.

If the monster wants you, the monster's gonna get you.

Se o monstro vai por ti, atraparate.

Especially if you're me, 'cause Alzheimer's tends to run in families.

Sobre todo se es eu, porque o alzhéimer tende a herdarse.

So I'm preparing to get Alzheimer's disease.

Por iso me estou a preparar para ter alzhéimer.

Partindo do que aprendín coidando a meu pai,

Based on what I've learned from taking care of my father,

and researching what it's like to live with dementia, I'm focusing on three things in my preparation:

investiguei sobre como é vivir con demencia

e estoume centrando en tres puntos para a miña preparación:

I'm changing what I do for fun, I'm working to build my physical strength,

estou cambiando o que fago por diversión,

traballo para mellorar a miña forza física,

and -- this is the hard one -- I'm trying to become a better person.

e --esta é a parte máis complicada--, estou intentando ser mellor persoa.

Let's start with the hobbies. When you get dementia, it gets harder and harder to enjoy yourself.

Comecemos polos pasatempos.

Cando se ten demencia, cada vez é máis difícil divertirse.

You can't sit and have long talks with your old friends, because you don't know who they are.

Non podes sentarte e ter conversas cos teus vellos amigos,

porque non os recoñeces.

It's confusing to watch television, and often very frightening.

É confuso ver a televisión, ás veces incluso chega a ser aterrador.

And reading is just about impossible.

Mesmo a lectura se fai case imposible.

When you care for someone with dementia, and you get training,

Cando coidas a alguén con demencia, e recibes adestramento para facelo,

they train you to engage them in activities that are familiar, hands-on, open-ended.

ensínanche a propoñerlles actividades que lles sexan familiares,

prácticas e de carácter aberto.

With my dad, that turned out to be letting him fill out forms.

No caso de meu pai, o resultado foi deixarlle encher formularios.

He was a college professor at a state school; he knows what paperwork looks like.

Foi profesor nunha universidade pública, sabe como vai o papelame.

He'll sign his name on every line, he'll check all the boxes,

(Risas)

Asina co seu nome en cada liña, marca todas as casas,

he'll put numbers in where he thinks there should be numbers.

e pon números onde cre que debería habelos.

But it got me thinking, what would my caregivers do with me?

Pero isto fíxome pensar, que farían os meus coidadores comigo?

I'm my father's daughter. I read, I write, I think about global health a lot.

Son filla de meu pai.

Leo, escribo, penso moito acerca da saúde global...

Would they give me academic journals so I could scribble in the margins?

Daríanme revistas académicas para que puidese facer garabatos nas marxes?

Would they give me charts and graphs that I could color?

Daríanme táboas e gráficos que puidese colorear?

So I've been trying to learn to do things that are hands-on.

Por iso estiven intentando aprender a facer cousas manuais e prácticas.

I've always liked to draw, so I'm doing it more even though I'm really very bad at it.

Sempre me gustou debuxar, así que agora fágoo máis a miúdo,

aínda que non sexa moi boa.

I am learning some basic origami. I can make a really great box.

Estou aprendendo a facer figuras de papel sinxelas.

Xa sei facer unha caixa incríbel.

(Laughter)

(Risas)

And I'm teaching myself to knit, which so far I can knit a blob.

E estou aprendendo a tecer, polo momento sei tecer unha bóla.

(Risas)

But, you know, it doesn't matter if I'm actually good at it. What matters is that my hands know how to do it.

Pero, xa saben, en realidade non importa se son boa.

O que importa é que as miñas mans saben como facelo.

Because the more things that are familiar, the more things my hands know how to do,

Porque cantas máis cousas me sexan familiares,

máis cousas lembrarán as miñas mans,

the more things that I can be happy and busy doing when my brain's not running the show anymore.

e máis cousas me manterán feliz e ocupada cando o meu cerebro deixe de mandar.

They say that people who are engaged in activities are happier,

Din que as persoas que fan moitas actividades son máis felices,

easier for their caregivers to look after, and it may even slow the progress of the disease.

é máis doado coidalas, e ata pode facer máis lento o avance da enfermidade.

That all seems like win to me.

Para min iso é gañar a partida.

I want to be as happy as I can for as long as I can.

Quero ser todo o feliz que poida mentres me sexa posible.

A lot of people don't know that Alzheimer's actually has physical symptoms,

Moita xente descoñece o feito de que o alzhéimer implica tanto síntomas físicos

as well as cognitive symptoms. You lose your sense of balance,

coma síntomas cognitivos.

Pérdese o sentido do equilibrio, os músculos sofren espasmos,

you get muscle tremors, and that tends to lead people to being less and less mobile.

e iso deixa ás persoas cada vez máis inmóbiles.

They get scared to walk around. They get scared to move.

Asústalles camiñar.

Asústalles ata moverse.

So I'm doing activities that will build my sense of balance.

Por iso estou facendo actividades que melloren o meu equilibrio.

I'm doing yoga and tai chi to improve my balance, so that when I start to lose it,

Fago ioga e tai chi para mellorar o meu equilibrio,

para que cando comece a perdelo, aínda sexa capaz de moverme.

I'll still be able to be mobile.

I'm doing weight-bearing exercise, so that I have the muscle strength

Fago exercicios con pesas, de maneira que teña forza física para que,

so that when I start to wither, I have more time that I can still move around.

cando comece a atrofiarme, dispoña de máis tempo de mobilidade.

Finally, the third thing. I'm trying to become a better person.

Por último, o terceiro paso, estou mellorando como persoa.

My dad was kind and loving before he had Alzheimer's, and he's kind and loving now.

Meu pai era amable e cariñoso antes de ter alzhéimer,

e é amable e cariñoso tamén agora.

I've seen him lose his intellect, his sense of humor, his language skills,

Vin como perdía a súa intelixencia, o seu sentido do humor,

e as súas habilidades lingüísticas.

but I've also seen this: He loves me, he loves my sons,

Pero tamén vin isto:

quéreme,

adora aos meus fillos, quere a meu irmán, a miña nai e aos seus coidadores.

he loves my brother and my mom and his caregivers.

And that love makes us want to be around him, even now.

Ese amor fai que queiramos estar preto del mesmo agora, a pesar do difícil que é.

even when it's so hard.

When you take away everything that he ever learned in this world,

Cando lle sacas todo o que aprendeu durante a súa vida,

his naked heart still shines.

o seu corazón espido aínda brilla.

I was never as kind as my dad, and I was never as loving.

Nunca fun tan amable coma meu pai, nin tan cariñosa.

And what I need now is to learn to be like that.

O que preciso agora é ser así.

I need a heart so pure that if it's stripped bare by dementia, it will survive.

Necesito un corazón tan puro que, aínda desprovisto de todo pola demencia,

poida sobrevivir.

I don't want to get Alzheimer's disease.

Non quero ter alzhéimer.

What I want is a cure in the next 20 years, soon enough to protect me.

O que quero é unha cura nos próximos 20 anos,

suficientemente pronto para que me protexa.

But if it comes for me, I'm going to be ready.

Pero se a enfermidade vén por min, estarei preparada.

Thank you.

Grazas.

(Applause)

(Aplausos)