NPR 12-03:Living with Alzheimer's: 'I'm Still Me' 我脑海中的橡皮擦

Charles Jackson worries that his family will be saddened when Alzheimer's begins to take its toll¹ on him

This is Dave Isay, creator of StoryCorps, the project that records the stories of everyday Americans. StoryCorps airs each Friday on NPR's morning edition. Support for StoryCorps comes from AT&T, proudly bringing StoryCorps listeners America's past, present and future. The new AT&T, your world delivered.

Welcome to the StoryCorps podcast, I'm Katie Simon, filling in for Dave Isay this week. In this episode we hear from Charles Jackson, his mother side of the family has a genetic³ predisposition that can cause early-onset Alzheimer's. Jackson’s mother began showing symptoms in her early 40s. And here Charles remembers the day he found out what was happening to her.

When Charles Jackson was 13, he learned that his mother's side of the family has a particular gene² that can cause early-onset Alzheimer's. His mother started showing symptoms of the disease in her early 40s. He remembers the day he found out what was going on.

My brother Stanley and I came home from school and Mom told us that our aunt wanted to talk to us.So we went out and got in the old pickup⁴ and drove over there. And my aunt started telling us that Mom had this disease that my Aunt Pearl had had and my Uncle Fred and so forth⁵ down the line.

It's the first day I heard the word Alzheimer's. When we got back to the farm, it was dark and Mom and Dad were in a fight. Dad had gotten home from work and wanted to know where we were at and she had forgotten where we had gone. They were yelling and screaming at each other and it was a horrible night for all of us. I was the one became a care person for my mother at the time. I was 13.

I got to high school. I was in my senior year. And by this time mom was sitting in a rocking chair with a blanket wrapped around her and all the blinds pulled down. That year she asked me if I could help her die and I told her I couldn't. And after that she started trying to run away. Any chance she thought she could sneak⁶ out of the house, she would leave and I'd have to go find her.

I was diagnosed in 2004 with Alzheimer's. I was 50. A friend of mine sent me an e-mail right after my diagnoses. She said this is terrible, this is unfair and it's a horrible thing. And I wrote back to her and I said, “Well, it’s not that bad, it’s not like you are in pain all the time. But it takes a toll on my family, because I know that when they see my failing, they get really sad and they don't like to see that. I wish they would try to understand that I may be a little different. There's a time there where I will forget everybody's name, but inside I'm still here. I'm still me. Inside I’m thinking how much fun I’m having with them. And I as much as possible would like to be treated as I had been treated before.

Charles Jackson in Los Angeles. This interview was recorded as a part of the StoryCorps Memory Loss Initiative. Read more stories like this one in the first ever StoryCorps book, “Listening Is an Act of Love”, and catch Dave Isay on the Listening is an Act of Love book tour, he’ll be at Brooklyn BookSmith in Brooklyn, Massachusetts on Dec. 3rd and on Dec. 4th you can find him at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.

Major support for StoryCorps is provided by AT&T, and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The StoryCorps Archive is housed at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. Tune⁷ into StoryCorps broadcasts Tuesdays on NPR's news and notes and Fridays on NPR's morning edition. I'm Katie Simon, thanks for listening.

1 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

2 gene   

n.遗传因子，基因

参考例句：

• A single gene may have many effects.单一基因可能具有很多种效应。
• The targeting of gene therapy has been paid close attention.其中基因治疗的靶向性是值得密切关注的问题之一。

3 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

4 pickup   

n.拾起，获得

参考例句：

• I would love to trade this car for a pickup truck.我愿意用这辆汽车换一辆小型轻便卡车。||The luck guy is a choice pickup for the girls.那位幸运的男孩是女孩子们想勾搭上的人。

5 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

6 sneak   

vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝)；偷偷摸摸做；n.潜行；adj.暗中进行

参考例句：

• He raised his spear and sneak forward.他提起长矛悄悄地前进。
• I saw him sneak away from us.我看见他悄悄地从我们身边走开。

7 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。