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- A Scary Disease
- ALS, a Scary Disease
- Picture a young man stuck in a dark room staring out through a window that looks onto a brick wall, completely paralyzed, with a feeding tube that drips 'Ensure' into his stomach, one drip at a time throughout the day. He wants to be free, to move badly, but instead waits for hours for the nurse to give him assistance with his breathing device. He is all alone except for a comatose roommate who sleeps on a floor-bound mattress. His brain is intact and has a fiery will to live, but his body is atrophying in a hospital bed. This is what ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) does to a a person in just a few short years. It's a disease unlike any other. You cry each time you leave someone you know who has ALS.
- Greg & Nadine - June 2007
- The Story
- The question that comes up most often with ALS is, "Is it ever going to get better?" Even though scientists across the world are working diligently, most lack funding to address the fundamental questions of such a puzzling disease. Better Days explores not only the current scientific research and theories surrounding the study of ALS but alternative treatments that include a range of modalities taken from the Chinese Qigong school of thought, supplements, and possible herbal solutions. Bringing a touching human element to the project is the story of Greg Bonfa, a 38 year old former college professor who loses his passion for teaching and writing to the unforgiving effects of ALS in 2003. Close to completing his PhD in linguistics at that time, the easy tasks he takes for granted, such as typing and talking, turn into impossible labor over the course of six years. As fear and invalidity take hold, Greg's life rapidly disintegrates into a mournful nightmare.
- Los Angeles - May 2007
- Why This Project?
- People afflicted with ALS suffer unbearable desperation. While at any given time there are multiple trials being conducted at research facilities around the world, a cure is no closer than it was 140 years ago when ALS was first discovered in France. ALS is a puzzling neurodegenerative disease, and progress to finding a cure is not being made because of scarce and uncoordinated funding. The number of people afflicted with ALS is considerably fewer than "bigger" diseases like cancer and AIDS, giving it a "profitability disadvantage" in charitable circles. The documentary Better Days, from director Nadine El-Khoury and her creative team at Jeneration Studios, offers forum to ALS victims whose lack of medical treatment and ever-mounting debts have turned them into grass-roots lobbyists and protesters.
- Production Day - July 2007
- How Can I Help?
- In a more perfect world, organizations such as Jeneration Studios would have the money and resources to produce impassioned pleas that both inform and enlighten. However, even the most modestly budgeted production costs money to make (and make well). That is why Better Days relies on the good will of regular folks such as yourself who are interested in making better days for all who suffer from ALS. Help us get Better Days to Cannes by giving what you can to finish this film. Your donation will bring Better Days to the screen where the power of it can shine light into the darkness of a movie theater, helping people like Greg reach out to the public to let them know that he is not alone in his fight for dignity.