Impending Doom: Stories about facing the scary unknown
The Story Collider
Story Collider, Inc.
4.4 • 824 Ratings
🗓️ 8 May 2026
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this week’s episode, both of our storytellers are forced to confront the terrifying unknown and decide how to live in the shadow of what might come.
Part 1: After three generations of women in her family develop Alzheimer’s disease, Mary Jo Pollack enrolls in a study that could reveal whether she’s next.
Part 2: When Sabrina Samuel is diagnosed with a brain aneurysm and told to wait a year before surgery, she must choose between living in fear or embracing the time she has.
Mary Jo Pollack lives life out loud, not only as an award-winning storyteller but also as a general life philosophy. She has appeared at Odyssey Storytelling, Female Storytelling (FST!), Tellers of Tales Tucson, Phoenix Moth, which she won twice, and numerous virtual shows, including the 2022 Toronto Storytelling Festival. Mary Jo loves the 99-second storytelling format.
Southern Nomad, photographer, and nature lover; Sabrina Samuel is originally from Atlanta, Georgia. She enjoyed a childhood full of outdoor adventures with her little sister and their many beloved ponies, ducks, goats, cats, dogs, and rabbits. After studying art at the University of Georgia, she traveled to India and lived there for many years. In 2002, she returned to Atlanta with my husband and 2 kids. Currently, she owns and operate a small real estate photography business, Sabrina Samuel Photography. When she’s not working, she enjoy long walks visiting her tall forest friends - Trees.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | A science story, huh? |
| 0:04.0 | Is NYU scientist a... |
| 0:06.0 | It felt a huge, but I was so... |
| 0:09.0 | And I just thought, well... |
| 0:10.0 | It was that golden moment. |
| 0:13.0 | Because science was on my side. |
| 0:15.0 | Hey, everyone. Hey everyone, welcome to The Story Clatter, where we bring you true personal stories about science that remind us just how strange and honestly kind of miraculous it is to be human. |
| 0:33.3 | I'm your host, Mishigayevsky, and in today's episode, both of our storytellers come face to face with their impending doom, not to be dramatic or anything. |
| 0:41.2 | But really, each of them is forced to confront a deeply uncertain, genuinely scary unknown. |
| 0:46.7 | And what unfolds is less about the fear itself and more about what it means to keep going when you don't know what's coming next. |
| 0:53.2 | Our first story is from storyteller Mary Jo Pollock. |
| 0:55.7 | Her story is recorded at ASU Kerr in Scottsdale, Arizona, in April 2025. |
| 1:00.7 | Here's Mary Jo. |
| 1:10.7 | I'm in the PET scan tube listening to classic rock, because you're in there for like 45 minutes or to an hour. |
| 1:23.1 | What do you want to listen to? |
| 1:25.0 | Classic rock. |
| 1:25.9 | I grew up with it. |
| 1:27.3 | It's my thing. |
| 1:30.5 | There were, I, and it's a two-day operation. |
| 1:34.1 | So today, I'm being tested for tau, and tomorrow for amyloid. |
| 1:42.7 | Those are two protein plaques that build up on the brain and cause Alzheimer's disease. |
| 1:51.6 | Alzheimer's disease is my greatest fear. |
... |
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