Lauren Miller Rogen says she can’t remember a time where Alzheimer’s wasn’t a part of her life – her grandfather, grandmother and mother all battled the disease.
In 2012, Miller Rogen and her husband, actor-comedian Seth Rogen, founded Hilarity for Charity, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering individuals with Alzheimer’s and caregivers. From Rogen’s stand-up special on Netflix to other charity events, Hilarity for Charity uses education, Hollywood and comedy to advance their mission.
“I think that comedy comes as a natural passenger on this ride with us, and I don’t think we could do it without it. And God, Alzheimer’s, it is just so awful. And sometimes when things are so awful, you just have to laugh,” she says.
Miller Rogen and Actor and Producer James Keach joined a video call with NPF “America’s Long Term Care Crisis” to discuss their upcoming film “Unforgettable,” about Miller Rogen’s late mom, Adele Miller’s journey with Alzheimer’s.
Key quotes from Miller Rogen, Co-Founder, Hilarity for Charity; Screenwriter; Director; Producer; Philanthropist
“[My mom’s Alzheimer’s] started at 52, [my mom] passed away at 68, and that’s a long, long time.
“Money helped us keep her at home, and money helped give my dad a break. That’s a privilege. Shouldn’t be a privilege, should be a right and we’ll get there, but the pain of losing my mother is human. And it’s something that unfortunately most humans go through. And we had band-aids, but the wound gushed, no matter what.”
“I came to the realization that my mom was a teacher and at her core… She taught first grade for 30 years … And so to her, learning and supporting people was so core to who she was, and that if she had a microphone to teach someone something, she would take it. And I just made the choice eventually to be like, “You know what? She’d want to say, ‘F you to this disease. Let’s do what we can. Let’s teach people. Let’s fight back,’ because that’s who she was.”
“You have to pick and choose and keep a close eye on all the little, teeny tiny things that make the disease as ugly as it is and decide what is important, what is not important? And so my mom, there were a lot of ugly parts of the disease, and I think that my family together, I would say we were the final line on what exactly we could include that she would be okay with, while maintaining her dignity.”
“There are also things that provide a lot of hope these days. Science tells us that 40% of cases of Alzheimer’s might be preventable or delayable if you lead a brain healthy lifestyle. And so that is a huge part of our mission, and it is a huge part of my own lifestyle … I do a lot as far as my own prevention goes … whether it’s diet, sleep, exercise, mental fitness, emotional well-being, et cetera, they’re all priorities for me.”
Key quotes from Keach, Actor and Documentarian
“One of the things that I discovered, Lauren [was] fearless in shooting their mother and showing the disease … I wanted to know who she was before this horrible thing happened. And so, they’d been filming for years. You’ve got your family, the archival materials, going back to their childhood is fantastic. So, we spent hours and hours looking at all this footage and I said, ‘This is a beautiful, beautiful story that has this ending this unfortunate, but importantly, we need to show this story.’”
“[The Rogen’s] wanted to inspire young people. They wanted to teach my kids what we might be up against, or in Lauren’s case, much younger, what they might be up against, and that was the mission.”
“In a very serious story, you always look for the levity, but more importantly, you look for the compassion. Their intention is people. And so, the connectivity that I can have, I’m actually trying to teach myself by learning from you.”
“Hollywood is young. I think our society doesn’t honor the elders as much as we should. And so I think saying that Alzheimer’s is an old person’s disease, obviously Lauren’s mother proves that not to be true.”
Access the full transcript here.
The America’s Long-Term Care Crisis Fellowship is sponsored by AARP, which also sponsors the AARP Award for Excellence in Journalism on Aging. NPF is solely responsible for the content.
