鑽石舞台

I'd like to talk about my dad.My dad has Alzheimer's disease.He started showing the symptoms about 12 years ago.And he was officially diagnosed in 2005.Now he's really pretty sick.He needs help eating, he needs help getting dressed.He doesn't really know where he is or when it is, and it's been really, really hard.My dad was my hero and my mentor for most of my life.

我想談一談我的父親。我爸爸患有阿爾茨海默氏症。大約在12年前他便開始顯現出症狀。在2005年被確診。現在他是真的很虛弱。他需要人幫忙吃飯，需要人幫他穿衣服。他甚至不知道自己身處何方，這對我們來說十分不易。我的父親是我的英雄，也是我一生中長期以來的導師。

And I've spent the last decade watching him disappear.My dad's not alone.There's about 35 million people globally living with some kind of dementia.And by 2030 they're expecting that to double to 70 million.That's a lot of people.Dementia scares us.The confused faces and shaky hands of people who have dementia, the big numbers of people who get it, they frighten us.

而在過去的十年，我不得不目送他遠去。我爸爸並不是一個人。全球有約3500萬人生活在某種形式的痴呆症影響下。預計到2030年，這個數字會加倍而達到7000萬。那可是相當多的人。痴呆症讓我們害怕。神情恍惚，手腳振顫的痴呆患者們和如此之巨的發病數字令我們恐慌。

And because of that fear, we tend to do one of two things.We go into denial: "It's not me, it has nothing to do with me, it's never going to happen to me."Or, we decide that we're going to prevent dementia.And it will never happen to us because we're going to do everything right and it won't come and get us.I'm looking for a third way: I'm preparing to get Alzheimer's disease.

而且由於恐懼，我們往往會做這兩件事中的一個。我們選擇拒絕：「不是我得病，這與我無關，它永遠不會發生在我身上。」或者，我們決定要預防痴呆症。這樣它就永遠不會發生在我們身上，因為我們會竭盡全力遏制疾病。我卻在尋找第三種方法：我正為老年痴呆的到來做準備。

Prevention is good, and I'm doing the things that you can do to prevent Alzheimer's.I'm eating right, I'm exercising every day.I'm keeping my mind active, that's what the research says you should do.But the research also shows that there's nothing that will 100 percent protect you.If the monster wants you, the monster's gonna get you.That's what happened with my dad.

預防很好，我也和你們一樣在力所能及範圍內抗擊阿爾茨海默氏症。我飲食健康，每天都在鍛煉。我不斷思索以鍛煉大腦，這是研究告訴你該做的事。但研究也顯示，沒有什麼會100%保護着你。如果厄運找上門，那你依舊退無可退。這就是我父親的遭遇。

My dad was a bilingual college professor.His hobbies were chess, bridge and writing op-eds.He got dementia anyway.If the monster wants you, the monster's gonna get you.Especially if you're me, 'cause Alzheimer's tends to run in families.So I'm preparing to get Alzheimer's disease.Based on what I've learned from taking care of my father, and researching what it's like to live with dementia,

我父親是一名雙語大學教授。他的愛好是國際象棋、橋牌和寫專欄文章。但不管怎樣，他還是得了痴呆症。如果厄運找上門，那你依舊退無可退。如果你是我的話尤其如此，因為老年痴呆有家族內群聚發病特性。所以我正準備患上老年痴呆症。基於我在對父親的護理中所學到的，和關於如何與痴呆患者相處的研究，

I'm focusing on three things in my preparation: I'm changing what I do for fun,I'm working to build my physical strength, and -- this is the hard one -- I'm trying to become a better person.Let's start with the hobbies.When you get dementia, it gets harder and harder to enjoy yourself.You can't sit and have long talks with your old friends.Because you don't know who they are.

我在準備過程中專注於三件事：我正在嘗試改變自己的樂趣，我正在訓練來加強我的體能和最困難的——我想成為一個更好的人。讓我們從愛好開始吧。當你痴呆時，享受生活會越來越難。你不能坐下與舊友促膝長談。因為你不知道他們是誰。

It's confusing to watch television, and often very frightening.And reading is just about impossible.When you care for someone with dementia, and you get training,they train you to engage them in activities that are familiar, hands-on, open-ended.With my dad, that turned out to be letting him fill out forms.He was a college professor at a state school.He knows what paperwork looks like.

看電視會令你困惑，而且往往會讓你感到恐懼。而閱讀幾乎是不可能的。當你要去照顧痴呆的人，你會先進行培訓，訓練你讓病人參與他們熟悉且可以親身實踐的活動。對我父親來說，實際就是讓他填表單。他是一所州立學校的大學教授。他清楚什麼是批文手續。

He'll sign his name on every line.He'll check all the boxes.He'll put numbers in where he thinks there should be numbers.But it got me thinking, what would my caregivers do with me?I'm my father's daughter.I read, Iwrite, I think about global health a lot.Would they give me academic journals so I could scribble in the margins?Would they give me charts and graphs that I could color?

他會在每一行上籤上自己的名字。他會檢查所有的項目。他會把數字寫在他認為應有數字的地方。但這讓我思考，我的照顧者會和我一起做什麼呢？我是我父親的女兒。我經常閱讀、寫作和思考全球健康。他們會給我學術期刊以讓我可以在頁邊塗鴉嗎？他們會給我圖案讓我上色嗎？

So I've been trying to learn to do things that are hands-on.I've always liked to draw, so I'm doing it more even though I'm really very bad at it.I am learning some basic origami.I can make a really great box.And I'm teaching myself to knit, which so far I can knit a blob.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.

因此，我一直試圖學着去做那些動手的事。我一直喜歡繪畫，所以我經常畫，即使我真的畫得很爛。我正在學習一些簡單的摺紙。我能折出一個特大的箱子。我正在自學編織，到目前為止，我可以織個線團。但是，你知道的，做得好不好沒關係。重要的是我的手知道如何去做。

Because the more things that are familiar, the more things my hands know how to do,the more things that I can be happy and busy doing when my brain's not running the show anymore.They say that people who are engaged in activities are happier, easier for their caregivers to look after,and it may even slow the progress of the disease.That all seems like win to me.I want to be as happy as I can for aslong as I can.

因為熟悉的東西越多，我的手就更加擅長這些，當我的大腦不再掌控一切時，我就能有更多的快樂的事去做。人們說專注於活動的人更快樂，對他們的醫護人員來說更容易照顧，它甚至可能減緩疾病的發展。在我看來，這就是勝利。我想逍遙一生，無憂無慮。

A lot of people don't know that Alzheimer's actually has physical symptoms, as well as cognitive symptoms.You lose your sense of balance, you get muscle tremors.And that tends to lead people to being less and less mobile.They get scared to walk around.They get scared to move.So I'm doing activities that will build my sense of balance.I'm doing yoga and tai chi to improve my balance, so that when I start to lose it, I'll still be able to be mobile.

很多人不知道老年痴呆其實有身體症狀，以及認知症狀。你失去對平衡的感覺，你會肌肉震顫。而這使人們傾向於減少活動。他們開始害怕走路。甚至害怕移動。所以我在做能加強我平衡感的活動。我練瑜珈、太極來提高我的平衡性，這樣，當我開始失去它時，我將仍然可以移動。

I'm doing weight-bearing exercise,so that I have the muscle strength so that when I start to wither, I have more time that I can still move around.Finally, the third thing.I'm trying to become a better person.My dad was kind and loving before he had Alzheimer's, and he's kind and loving now.I've seen him lose his intellect, his sense of humor, his language skills,

我在做負重鍛煉，增加肌肉力量，這樣當我身體開始萎縮，我會有更多的時間可以左右移動。最後，第三件事。我在努力成為一個更好的人。我的爸爸在老年痴呆前是個和藹可親的人，且現在也是。我看到他失去了他的智慧、幽默感和語言能力，

but I've also seen this:He lovesme, he loves my sons, heloves my brother and my mom and his caregivers.And that love makes us want to be around him, even now.even when it's so hard.When you takeaway everything that he ever learned in this world, his naked heart still shines.I was never as kind as my dad, and I was never as loving.And what I need now is to learn to be like that.

但我也看到了這一點：他愛我，他愛我的兒子，他愛我的兄弟，我的媽媽和他的照顧者。而那愛讓我們想陪伴在他周圍，即使是現在。即使那很難。當你帶走他曾經在這世上所學的一切，他赤裸的心依然閃耀。我從來沒有像我父親一樣和藹慈祥。而我現在需要的就是學會成為這樣的人。

I need a heart so pure that if it's stripped bare by dementia, it will survive.I don't want to get Alzheimer's disease.What I want is a cure in the next 20 years, soon enough to protect me.But if it comes for me, I'm going to be ready.

我需要一顆即使由於痴呆被剝離裸露，也能生存下來的純潔的心。我不想患老年痴呆。我要的是在20年內找到一種來得及保護我的治療方法。但如果事與願違，我將毫不畏懼。

Thank you.

謝謝。