Source : PERTHNOW NEWS
Sterling K. Brown’s mom has been unable to speak for more more than eight years.
The 50-year-old actor’s mother Aralean was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in 2018, and by October that year, she had lost the ability to communicate verbally, though she is still able to connect with her loved ones in other ways.
Sterling appeared on the This Is Us re-watch podcast, That Was Us and drew parallels between his home life at the time and that of his character Randall Pearson, whose mom Rebecca suffered from Alzheimer’s.
Speaking to co-hosts Mandy Moore – who played Rebecca – and Chris Sullivan, who portrayed Toby Damon, and guest Lydria Stori, a caregiving advocate, Sterling said: “My mom has ALS, and there’s a point in time while we were shooting the show, and I remember going into the writers’ room and saying, ‘I don’t know which of my moms will pass away first,’ between my mom versus my TV mom.
“And a lot of strange parallels were happening between Randall and myself.”
He noted how himself and his character clashed with their siblings over the best way to handle certain things with their moms, as his family had to figure out how to “honour her wishes” with Aralean unable to speak.
Sterling admitted they had had to recentre themselves in doing what Aralean thinks is best for herself because her “mind is still present”.
Although there are “computer programs she could use,’ using her eyes to spell out words, his mom found them “too exhausting”, so he and his brother use a reading chart instead.
He added: “And if it takes us a bit longer to get the information, then it takes us a little bit longer. But making sure each step of the journey, we are honouring what she wants.”
The Paradise star previously admitted his mom had “far exceeded the expectations” of medical professionals in her battle with ALS.
Speaking in 2024, he told NPR: “I have quite a mom. I have to say that, too. She’s an extraordinary human being.
“I think she has far exceeded the expectations of most doctors in terms of lifespan, because she’s still with us. But the joy that my mom is able to hold on to, in the midst of this incredibly debilitating disease, the smile that she still has for the people who walk into her sphere is radiant.
“It shows you, shows me, that first of all, I don’t have to allow circumstances to dictate how I am in the world, that I still have choice. I may not have choice over what my – what the circumstances are but how I respond to them. And my mom has been a shining example of how to maintain radiance in the midst of a very difficult situation.”
