Max and Em in SF condo

On Thursday just before we got the news of Michael Jackson passing, we met and interviewed Sarah Fairhurst (pictured below), who’s father has Young Onset Alzheimer’s. Sarah shared how her father’s extremely positive attitude has continued to dominate through the disease, and he loves to ride his bike to Peet’s Coffee where everyone knows him or will get to know him.

Sarah and Max

At our COYOD gathering last Tuesday we met Ericka Smith, who works at the Alzheimer’s Association. Ericka facilitates a Young Onset support group in Berkley, and we were luckily in town for the monthly meeting. Ericka sent out an email to the group that encouraged COYOD to come, and we met 7 people affected that night.

Earlier this month we met a man on our way down the coast who told us about Jazzheimer’s- a nonprofit that provides Jazz music to people with Alzheimer’s (see: jazzheimers.org). We were luckily in town for Jazzheimer’s monthly “Fish Fry” performance at Western Addition Senior Services Center. We filmed the band and crowd reactions- which were priceless- and interviewed Jazzheimer’s founder Marlina Tiech.

Friday night we were invited to dinner at Becca Posamentier’s home. Becca’s mom has Young Onset Alzheimer’s, and we spent about four hours talking about everything.

Saturday morning we met with COYOD- Andrea Contreras and her boyfriend Omar (pictured below)-at Tartine, which is the best pastry place in San Francisco. Andrea’s dad has Young Onset Alzheimer’s, and the four of us shared many similarities and it felt good to talk about it all. Even though the topic is heavy, it’s like going to therapy when you meet other people dealing with the same challenges.

Omar and Andrea

Another lucky coincidence was a woman we met in Portland, Aysha Ghazoul, was in town for the “Pride March” this weekend. We met Aysha through Rebecca- who’s a COYOD we interviewed in Portland. Aysha shares lots of common interests, including biking and documentary-making. Only she is a legit filmmaker, check her debut documentary “My American Grandmother”: http://www.arabfilm.com/item/100/. Aysha is going to join us for Boston to New York to help film.

Max and Aysha

Lastly, we were in town for a benefit show for Paul Williams- the founder of rock magazine Crawdaddy! who is suffering from Young Onset Dementia (see: paulwilliams.com). We’ve been emailing with Paul’s wife, singer/songwriter Cindy Lee Berryhill, and she told us she’d be in town for this event- which was great because otherwise she’s based in San Diego. We filmed part of the show and met Cindy. When Cindy was on stage, her songs reflected the hardships of Paul’s decline and it was incredibly moving. In addition to Cindy, there were a number of other artists showing their support, including John Doe. Max was starstruck by John Doe because of his appearance in “Great Balls of Fire”, and asked for a photo.

John Doe and Max

Now my mom is here and we are getting ready to catch a train back to Seattle tomorrow. We’ll be home for the month of July for a couple of weddings, a nephew to be born, a fundraiser, COYOD interviews, and some down time before our August 1 plane ride to Boston.

Emily and Mom (Maryanne)