I might come back to this and watch again. I'd love to learn more. Maybe I'm just not in the mood. Distracted.

An emotional journey in the life of a young man with ALS...

The technical merits of this documentary are probably shit. It mostly has the qualities of a home video. But the story is pretty good. It follows the life of a man and his family as he battles Lou Gehrig's Disease. Probably never before has the disease been so well-documented, at least in the way it destroys the body. I doubt anyone I know will watch, but spoiler: he dies. That's actually really tragic. This was a guy who seemed really at peace with what he was going through, and made a lot of decisions to prolong life. He died two years after filming ended by accident...his respirator came loose during the night and he suffocated. To die of an accident like that after years of fighting is, and I think Stephen might even agree, almost comical. I mean, how much can life shit on a guy? The other two people who really impressed me are the guys who helped him build houses. They were more or less kids, but took up the job he was no longer able to do: build houses. So they must have been pretty patient and pretty good guys to deal with the language, etc, on a daily basis. Finally, the bring up Dr. Jack in the movie. I was pretty impressed with Stephen the entire time. I'm not as positive as he is and I don't suffer from this crippling disease. But he was right about Dr. K. as well. He didn't say what he did was wrong, or that the people wanting his services were wrong. They just didn't have the things he had to live for. Spot on.

Poignant & inspiring.

Jamie Heywood was guest speaker at the Bio-IT dinner, and he gave a talk about the science of drug development with such passion, I have never seen a conference speeach like it. So I had to watch the movie about his brother's life, and Jamie's fight to save him. The documentary concentrates on the people rather than the science, and the stresses on all involved as Stephen's disease progresses and the foundation fails to make progress gives the film an edge. This is what a reality show used to be like, and should be like. I wonder how I would respond to a diagnosis of ALS. I can't imagine I would have a life at any cost attitude, but where would I draw the line? If I could communicate, would that be enough? Watch this film, it's inspiring.

Makes you appreciate life and the courage of the human spirit

First off, the plot synopsis on Flixster is absolutely wrong hahahah. This documentary is about the Heywood family and the struggles they encounter when a son is diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). I can only hope to have somewhere in me the willpower and the tenacity that the family exhibits, particularly Jamie and Stephen.

I found this very insightful and inspiring. It is about just a regular guy, who wants to stay alive as long as possible to watch his baby grow, and enjoy his family. He also surely loved technology. There was quite a bit about the very determined brother who loved him. The dynamics of the family, friends and the research group formed were expressed very nicely in this. I didn't find it a downer at all but quite compelling. [img]http://images.chrc4work.com/images/user/statusicon/forum_new.gif[/img]

This is a documentary about a man with ALS and his family and their fight to start a company to search for a cure before he succumbs to the inevitable. It was fairly well done as a documentary but in the end, I wasn't sure what the point was, other than to raise awareness about ALS. It certainly does that, but it also can't help but be depressing when the inevitable end is death.

Very good documentary on ALS and the effects it has on not only the patient but the patient's family and other loved ones. I highly recommend this as a means to increase ALS awareness. It really is a shame that it took almost 3 full yrs to bring this film to DVD.

A movie which will definitely ground you and make you appreciate life and it's small challenges.

A documentary film spanning five years of Stephen Heywood's life after being diagnosed with ALS. This film follows not only Stephen's life during those years but his family as well, (his brother in particular) who start a grass-roots - gorilla style research group in search for a cure for ALS often considered an "orphan disease" because so few have it, there is little research to combat it. The film ends rather disjointedly I thought and though it seemed more clinical than emotional at times it did in fact make me more aware of this disease and the research needed still to fight it.

i saw this on PBS last year. really harrowing and amazing.

Touching, hits close to home. Well made.

a documentary of one suffers from / fight against ALS, a terminal and rapidly deteriorating... hopes, despairs, resignation and acceptance... cherish what we have... to love and have a sense of humor...

At 29, Stephen Heywood discovers he has the paralyzing neural disorder ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Filmed over five years, the documentary chronicles one family's ferocious response to an orphan disease: the kind of disease drug companie

Let me be the first to write about this painful documentary. It is about the life of Stephen Heywood and the sufferings of ALS. Having that my Uncle Vic had ALS when i saw this, i got very emotional. Uncle Vic recently died about 3 months ago, and everytime i come across this title i almost cry. Go rent it, and learn about the suffering and hardships of ALS. Overall VERY STRONG and well done. Thank you to the Heywoods for being open and letting the world know. -Ari RIP all ALS victims and sufferers.

really funny and good action

its too fast for me this film