But right now,

as you can see, I'm doing good.

- You are doing awesome!

- Yes!

(playful music)

I'm Mariam.

- It's nice to meet you, Mariam.

My name's Crystal.

- Nice to meet you, Crystal.

You're beautiful.

- Thank you.

You're beautiful too.

- Well, thank you.

(laughing)

- What are we here to talk about?

- It's called Alzheimer's.

Have you heard of Alzheimer's?

- No.

- Alzheimer's is a disease

and it's in the brain.

It's in the head.

And, oh what's that like...

Thing that goes around eating things?

- Oh, you mean Pac-Man?

- Pac-Man! Yes!

Well, there's a Pac-Man going around eating

my brain.

(laughing)

Yeah.

- May be you could just create a ghost in your brain

and then eat Pac-Man and then go bye-bye

and then the ghost goes away.

- Sure. Absolutely. Why not?

(laughing)

With Alzheimer's disease,

the brain starts to shrink

and so memories go away.

And I forget things.

- My dad is kinda like that.

When my mama asks him to do something,

he doesn't do it,

every single time,

and he always says

I forgot.

I forgot.

I forgot.

(laughing)

I forgot.

I forgot.

I forgot.

I forgot.

I forgot.

I forgot.

And over and over every single time.

(laughing)

- Well, I can relate

(laughing)

cause I forget all the time.

- What things do you forget?

- People's names,

like you told me your name but I forgot it.

- It's Crystal.

- I know, but I will forget it.

(laughing)

- If you couldn't remember our names,

could you remember your name?

- Oh, yeah...

I think I will remember my name, I think.

- Does the technology help you remember things?

- Absolutely.

I feel blessed that I live with technology

because technology helps me a lot.

You know?

I can contact people who are on the other side

of the country.

You know?

- Yeah.

- I've got lots of friends all over.

Do you have friends?

- Yeah.

My bestest friend is Kristin.

- Kristin?

- She's my little sister.

- Oh, really.

- Surprise.

- Oh that's so great!

- Kristin, she always wants food.

After lunch.

Mom, can I have some more food?

After dinner.

Mom, can I have more food?

After breakfast.

Mom, can I have more food?

(laughing)

And my mom's like

Wow Kristin, you really like to eat.

(laughing)

- One of the side effects of Alzheimer's for me

is that I don't get hungry anymore.

Have you heard...

You know what ALzheimer's is?

- Yeah...

You said that earlier.

- Ah yeah...

See, I'm gonna repeat myself because I forget what I said.

- It's okay.

(laughing)

It's okay.

(laughing)

Does it get worse?

- Yes.

I can gonna keep declining,

so that I'm gonna keep forgetting more and more and more.

At some point, I won't be able to remember my name.

And I don't know how much longer I'm going to be around.

But I am just really very positive.

Look on the bright side.

- There's always a bright side.

- That's right!

- Even if you don't see a bright side,

there is always one bright side,

you're still alive.

- Yes!

Give me a high five!

(high five sound)

Yeah girl!

(laughing)

- It's very nice to meet you, Mariam.

- Can I get a hug?

Thank you, sweetie pie.

Thank you!

(clapping sound)

Wait a minute, I'm stuck.

I'm stuck here.

There we are, okay.