Let’s Make a Deal is making sure brain health is not forgotten. The game show is set to have an episode with an audience of contestants who have been affected by Alzheimer’s in some way.
Host Wayne Brady has a special connection to the disease as his grandmother suffered from it before she passed away in 2022. June is Alzheimer’s and Brain Health Awareness Month, so Let’s Make a Deal is making sure its fans learn more about Alzheimer’s Disease by releasing a PSA.
Brady stood on set and said, “It’s a time to raise awareness and have a conversation around Alzheimer’s. The number of people living with Alzheimer’s is growing, and I have to tell you it’s growing fast.”
“Today, more than seven million Americans are living with this disease. My grandmother, Valerie, was one of them before she passed away in 2022.”
Valerie Peterson raised Brady from the time he was a baby, so it was only right that he became her caregiver when she was affected with the disease, according to his story on the Alzheimer’s website. He always loved to watch Let’s Make a Deal with his grandmom, whom he called “mom.”
He would always say “I love you, Mom” at the end of every episode in honor of her. Valerie was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2018 after she revealed that she would forget names or why she was in a certain place.
“Every once in a blue moon, especially towards the end when she wasn’t talking much, she would just snap to. You’d be trying to feed her, and out of nowhere, she went from sitting there with her eyes closed and not speaking, to [saying], ‘I said I didn’t want that soup. You eat it. I don’t want it, and we would laugh so hard because we could see that she was still in there somewhere,” he said.
“We always try to find the moments of laughter despite the heartbreak,” he continued on with the PSA. “Those are the things that I know I hold on to. This disease is a difficult journey, but here’s the good thing: no one has to do it alone.”
“The Alzheimer’s Association is a place for hope and help. For support or to donate, visit alz.org or call their free 24/7 hotline at 800-272-3900,” Brady ended. “Thank you so much. We’ve got to do this together.”
Those affected by Alzheimer’s will be playing for prizes on the Friday, June 5 episode of Let’s Make a Deal. The PSA will air during the episode.
Let’s Make a Deal, weekdays, CBS, check local listings