The unexpected

I just spent the last weekend shooting the first scenes for a documentary project called "My New Birthday". Prior to coming out to Orlando to film, I went through all the normal motions. What cameras do I pack? Do I have releases? Batteries? Plane tickets etc… You have the point. What I didn't prepare for was how difficult it would be to film someone going through something I have gone through. MNB follows the story of Ashley Jade and her battle with Aplastic Anemia. Her first treatment seems to have failed and now the family must decide what to do next. She has been fighting the disease that kills her bone marrow for two years and she is ready to move to transplant. Of course, that comes with its own risks. I know…because I've been there. Nearly two years ago I received a bone marrow transplant for Aplastic Anemia. Thank God I'm well and back to health and able to tell her story. However, I didn't think about how hard it would be to turn that camera on while Ashley was going through some personal intimate problems. How hard it would be to turn the camera on when Tina, Ashley's mom, was getting choked up over the possibility of losing her oldest child. I almost felt wrong doing it…but then I remembered why I was there. Ashley wants her story told so that the world will see what AA survivors battle. What the families go through…and God willing how a donor she has never met will save her life. It is a story that must be told…and I have the unique ability as a survivor myself, to tell it.   

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