“支撑我继续走下去的原因是爱情”- 澳大利亚人如何面对健康二号杀手老年痴呆症 [美国媒体]

'What keeps me going is love': Why dementia isn't the end of a marriage 

“支撑我继续走下去的原因是爱情” ——为什么老年痴呆症不是婚姻的尽头  

Four Corners        
By Janine Cohen
Updated      35 minutes agoMon 10 Jul 2017, 5:28pm

《四角报道》记者珍妮寇恩于2017年7月10日5下午点28分报道 

When Mandy Lovell's husband Garry was diagnosed with younger onset dementia seven years ago, it changed everything but her love for him.

当曼迪拉维尔的丈夫盖瑞7年前被诊断出老年痴呆症早发症的时候，整个世界都改变了。 然而，这么多年来她始终如一地爱着他。

"I was madly in love with him, and there was no way that I was going to change my mind," she says.

她说： “我疯狂地爱着他， 没有什么能够改变我的心意。”

Garry already knew the road that lay ahead. He had helped nurse his 50-year-old mother Jan, who later died of the disease.

盖瑞当时已经知道自己面对的是条什么样的道路。 他曾经帮助照顾过自己的母亲珍， 珍那时只有50岁。

"Once she got it she said to me 'I hope you don't get this' and I asked her why she is saying that, and she said that her dad had the same thing, his two brothers, their sister, their mother and it went on and on," Garry says.
"When she told me it was a bit of a punch in the head."

她后来死于此病。“当母亲发病的时候， 她跟我说'我希望你以后不会得这种病‘。 我问她为什么这么说？ 她说她的父亲得过同样的病， 两个叔伯， 姑姑以及奶奶也得过。 这种病就这么一代一代地遗传了下来，”盖瑞说到：“当她告诉我这段话时， 我觉得简直是当头一棒。”

Now Mandy has given up her work as a psychologist to help care for her 54-year-old husband.

曼迪以前是一名心理医生， 而现在她放弃了工作， 以便照顾54岁的丈夫。

"What keeps me going I think is just love," she says. "He's my best friend. And I made a commitment to cherish him and care for him. I really want to see that through."

“我想支撑我走下去的原因只有爱情，”她说：“他是我最好的朋友。 我承诺过会珍惜他，关爱他。我真的很想看着自己实现承诺。”

A growing killer

不断增长的杀手病症

Dementia is the second biggest cause of death in Australia and is predicted to become the number one killer as rates of heart disease decline.

老年痴呆症目前是澳大利亚人的第二大死亡原因。 据专家预测， 随着心脏病的发病率不断下降， 老年痴呆症有可能将来会成为澳人的第一大杀手病症。

What would you do if you knew you only had a few years before you spiralled into advanced dementia? What memories would you want to try to hold on to? And how could you slow down your decline?

如果你知道自己离老年痴呆症晚期不过几年之遥， 你会想做些什么呢？最想保留什么样的记忆呢？你该如何延缓自己的日渐衰弱呢？

Four Corners explores these intimate questions as it follows the lives of those living with dementia, including two just in their 50s.
For Garry, the answers to some of these questions were found in a bucket list.

《四角报道》为了探究这些私密问题， 追寻采访了一些老年痴呆症患者， 包括两位50来岁就发病的患者。

"Garry wanted to learn to fly a plane, learn to ride a horse, and travel in a hot air balloon, and he did all of those things," Mandy says.

对于盖瑞来说， 有些问题的答案在他的临终愿望清单里。曼迪说：“盖瑞希望自己能学开飞机、 学骑马、乘热气球旅行。 现在他已经完成了所有的这些心愿。”

An answer to chaos

对陷入混乱状态的解释

Brian Fischer is grateful for his diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, which came last year after a traumatic 10-year journey.

布莱恩费舍对于患有阿尔兹海默症的诊断结果心怀感激。 在确诊之前的10年里， 他过得十分痛苦。

The 79-year-old's life had become chaotic and he didn't know why. The academic, who once was in charge of 300 people, now finds it impossible to choose what clothes to put on in the morning.     

 79岁的他生活一片混乱，他不知道为什么会这样。曾经带领300人的学者现在发现自己早上起来的时候根本无法选择穿什么衣服。

"Now I would say it's a pity that all that didn't happen 10 years earlier and I was, I should have been far more receptive," Brian says.
"My diagnosis has helped me come to grips with some of the things that I've always put off for tomorrow."


“我现在可以说没有在10年前就发现自己患病是非常遗憾的一件事。 如果这病在10年前就发现了， 那么现在的我会更好地接受命运的安排，”布莱恩说：“诊断结果帮助我更积极地面对一些以前总是推到明天去做的事情。”

Brian has sporadic Alzheimer's, the most common form of dementia, making up nearly 70 per cent of all cases.

布莱恩患有偶发性阿尔兹海默症， 这是老年痴呆症最常见的形式， 占所有病例的70%。

'It could take over your whole life'

“老年痴呆症可以夺走你所有的生活”

Supporting Brian all the way has been his partner Heather.

陪伴布莱恩一路走过来的是他的老伴海泽。

"On one occasion, he actually hit me across the face which was just devastating for him because he's a kind, gentle man who would not approve of that in anybody whatsoever," she says.

海泽说：“有一次， 他居然打了我整张脸。 这对他来说是非常痛心疾首的一件事， 因为他是那么善良、温柔的一个男人， 决不允许任何人在任何情况下这么做。”



Photo: "The diagonsis was our diagnosis... it's not just him": Heather Fischer with her husband Brian (Four Corners:Ron Foley)

图片：“这个诊断结果是我们的， 不只是他一个人的”——海泽费舍和她的丈夫布莱恩（《四角报道》记者：罗恩佛力拍摄）

"Every now and again, when Brian feels bad about himself and says, 'Oh maybe I should go somewhere because it's not fair on you', I just remind him that the diagnosis was our diagnosis, that it's not just him. 

“布莱恩时不时地会讨厌自己。 他有时会说：'啊！我也许应该去别的地方，因为这对你来说真的很不公平,' 每当他这么说的时候我就会提醒他这个诊断结果是我们的，不只是他一个人的。’ 

"It's something in our life that we need to deal with. I remind him constantly that he is Brian Fischer who happens to have Alzheimer's, he is not Brian Alzheimer's. Because Alzheimer's could take over your whole life if you let it."

我会不停地提醒他， 这个病只是我们生活中需要面对的一件事情。 他是不巧得了阿尔兹海默症的布莱恩费舍， 而不是布莱恩阿尔兹海默症。 如果他屈服于疾病的话， 它就会夺走你的全部生活。”

The quest for delaying tactics

寻求延缓发病的方法

There are two forms of Alzheimer's disease. Garry Lovell has a rare form of younger onset Alzheimer's which was passed through his family. The second and more common form of Alzheimer's, usually diagnosed in people over 65, is not inherited.

阿尔兹海默症一共有两种。 盖瑞罗威尔属于罕见的早期发病者， 这一类患者是因为家族遗传而患病的。 第二类患者一般在65岁以上开始发病， 患病原因并非遗传。 这是阿尔兹海默症更常见的发病形式。



The disease is usually random, according to Bernadette Milsted, a dementia counsellor with Alzheimer's Australia.
 
澳大利亚阿尔兹海默症协会老年痴呆症咨询员伯娜迪特米尔斯特德解释说， 第二种病症通常都是偶发的。

"Even with two parents with a diagnosis you will not have a significant increase in your risk," she says. 

她说：“就算你的双亲都得过这种病，也不代表你的患病几率会比一般人高很多。”

Studies suggest that exercise may in some cases delay its onset, along with increased intellectual and social engagement.

研究显示某些情况下锻炼身体，增加脑力劳动， 加强社交活动等可能会延缓发病的时间。 

"We do a lot of work on risk reduction," Mrs Milsted tells Four Corners. "There aren't a lot medications available, but you can do lots of things in your lifestyle."

“我们为了减少患病风险做了很多工作，”米尔斯特夫人对《四角报道》讲到：“针对这种病的药物并不多， 但是你可以做很多事来改变自己的生活方式。

"So, all the classic things: not smoking, limit your alcohol intake, healthy diets, and every piece of research that comes out re-emphasizes that physical exercise is probably the number one thing that is going to lower your risk."

因此，那些所有老生常谈的医嘱都需要遵守——不吸烟、少喝酒、健康饮食，以及所有发表过的研究都屡次强调的锻炼身体。 锻炼恐怕是减少患病风险最重要的预防方式。”

David Ames, an old age psychiatrist, says many people ask him what can be done to prevent or delay dementia.

大卫埃姆斯是为老年人服务的精神病医生。他说很多人都问过自己可以做些什么来避免或者延缓患上老年痴呆症。

"There's a little bit of evidence that control of vascular risk factors, pick things like hypertension, high cholesterol, cigarette smoking may have a little bit of an impact, and studies that follow older people through over time seem to find those who are physically active, intellectually engaged and socially engaged may do better over time than those who are not," Professor Ames says.

埃姆斯医生说：“有一些证据显示可以通过控制血管疾病的发病原因， 比如说高血压、高胆固醇、吸烟等可能得到一些效果；另外，根据对老年人长时间的追踪研究， 我们发现那些喜欢运动， 脑力和社交上得到良好刺激的老人在比较长的时间段里，比那些不这么做的老人有着更低的风险。”