[Sportschosun Reporter Jung An-ji] Broadcaster Ahn Sun-young moved viewers by sharing moments from her daily life with her mother, who is living with cognitive impairment.
On the 18th, a video titled "'Please Don't Forget Me, Mom' I keep repeating it endlessly... but my mother's memories are slowly fading | Ahn Sun-young's day with her mother, who has dementia" was uploaded to the YouTube channel "Ahn Sun-young's Double Life."
In the video, Ahn Sun-young's mother, who was diagnosed with dementia eight years ago, appeared to be losing her memory little by little, leaving viewers deeply moved.
When Ahn Sun-young asked, "How old are you, Mom?" her mother replied, "I don't know. I can't remember." When asked how old her daughter was, she said, "I don't know. My thoughts are all tangled up," drawing sympathy.
Ahn Sun-young then explained, "Mom is 77, and I'm in my 50s." Her mother responded, "My daughter is in her 50s? Oh my, she's old," and added, "I don't know because I'm someone who lives forgetting me."
Her mother could not even remember visiting a hair salon and a nail shop just moments earlier. Even after getting into the car, she kept asking, "Where are we?" "Did I get my hair done?" and "I didn't even know I had my hair done." Ahn Sun-young calmly explained, "We just went and got a perm and had our nails done." She then said, "You know the movie 50 First Dates? It's like that," describing the reality matter-of-factly.
In an interview with the production team, Ahn Sun-young also opened up about the realities of caring for a family member with dementia.
She said, "The moment I fall into self-pity or feel sorry for my mother, she becomes too pitiful, and I can't hold out for long either." She added, "This is just the beginning. I don't know whether it will be 10 years or 20 years."
She continued, "You can't say, 'I can't remember this right now.' You have to think, 'Maybe I just can't remember.' If she asks the same question a hundred times, you just answer the same way a hundred times, saying, 'It's my car' or 'It's Seoul.'" She added, "If you put in too much effort, you get exhausted. You just let go and keep living, like chewing gum while walking."
anjee85@sportschosun.com
