Award-Winning Documentary About A Family's Response To ALS Now On DVD

Main Category: Muscular Dystrophy / ALS
Article Date: 22 Apr 2007 - 7:00 PDT

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"So Much So Fast", a new film by Oscar-nominated directors Steven Ascher and Jeanne Jordan, focuses on Stephen Heywood -- a designer and builder who learned at age 29 that he had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease).

MDA has led the fight against ALS for more than 50 years.

"As we approach ALS Awareness Month this May, our hope is that people will see this film and come away with a greater understanding and appreciation of the devastating consequences this disease has on the lives of everyone it touches," MDA President & CEO Jerry Weinberg said.

The documentary premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and was released to critical and audience acclaim in theaters nationwide. Critics have called it "triumphant," "gripping, intimate and dramatic" and "filled with unexpected humor."

It was aired on the PBS program "Frontline" on April 3.

Filmmakers Ascher and Jordan, a husband-and-wife team, first encountered ALS when Jeanne's mother was diagnosed with it. Heywood's story provided them the opportunity to examine the ways in which ALS takes hold of the lives of those who have it and their families.

Obsessed with finding a cure, Heywood's brother James started the ALS Therapy Development Foundation, a nonprofit, fast-track research program dedicated to developing treatments for ALS in as short a time as possible.

In January, the foundation joined with MDA in an historic $36 million partnership, creating the largest ALS drug discovery project to date, called the ALS Therapy Development Institute.

"So Much So Fast," which runs 87 minutes, is available at a special price of $24.95 for those registered with MDA. Full-size posters are available for $19.99. For information or to order, go to www.somuchsofast.com.

Source: www.mdausa.org

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