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This Documentary Shows The Life Of The Forgotten Elderly

Call your parents, grandparents, great-grandparents and all your great aunts and uncles too.

Most of us imagine that we will grow old with the ones we love, surrounded by family members and friends until our final days. But the reality is, 35 per cent of senior women and 17 per cent of senior men live alone.

It is these people who are sometimes forgotten and left to fend for themselves. In the documentary above by production company Voyager, we follow 98-year-old Mary, who spends her days at a local seniors centre and her nights ripping up junk mail on the couch to pass time.

"Do you enjoy living here?" the film crew asked. "Yeah I, I don't mind, what am I going to do, where could I go? I'm by myself. I can't see, I can't hear, I can't live with my nieces, they all have their own family," Mary replies.

But Mary doesn't feel too sorry for herself; she's grateful she's still able to move around on her own. In a conversation with a senior centre employee, Mary says, "I do whatever I can, and when I can't anymore then I'm done for. I want to do it for as long as I can."

Watch the touching 10-minute documentary above to see Mary's highs and lows, then be sure to call your loved ones because, as the film points out, they're still alive.

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