For Hope

I really enjoyed the movie. My husband has scleroderma and was just diagnosed with it in January. While we were watching the movie we were comparing what was going on with him at this point to what was happening to hope. We can relate very well with this movie and the details of the disease was described perfectly. This movie was very touching and goes to show that this can happen to anyone because the cause of the disease is unknown, which is very hard to grasp. But knowing that there is no cure is even more hard to swallow, because now we are at the point of no return and death is the end result.

The selfish son, the idiot brother, the rude parents...not an easy family to live or die in, but then few are. I've always hated Bob Saget but have to give him credit here for showing it like it really is, warts and all. Dana Delaney is one of my all-time favorite actresses--if you've never seen "China Beach" do yourself a big favor--and the only reason I watched this. I'm glad I did...sad, but glad. What a terrible disease.

My name is Mendi and I was diagnosed with Reynaud's Phenomenon and Scleroderma (CREST) at the early age of 15. I saw the movie "For Hope" after I was diagnosed. I was told that I would live approximately 5 years. That is a great deal for a 15 year old to swallow. Not only was I having a hard time coping with the idea, I felt that I needed to hide my fear for my families sake because the news was overwhelming for them as well and I didn't want them to worry more. When I watched "For Hope", I cried for days and yet it also gave me hope. Since I was was 15, I have dreamed of meeting Sharron. When I heard she passed away, I had just lost my finger. Once again I cried because her death was a great loss to all current and future Scleroderma patients. God Bless Bob Saget for continuing to fight for all of us who suffer with Scleroderma and for what his sister believed in!

Just to clear something up, Bob Saget's point of this movie was not for it to be some fictional drama only to entertain it's viewers. His intention was to raise awareness of a very difficult and sad disease, called Scleroderma, that most people haven't even heard of but does effect more that several million people, that claimed the life of his sister. This movie is about her battle with that disease.

I was diagnosed with Scleroderma when I was 20 yrs old. It was a very difficult time in my life and everything changed. I have been living with this disease for 9 years, and it has claimed many of my organs. Now I can no longer have children. I hope people will watch this movie and have compassion for those who struggle with life-changing diseases and donate to it's research. Just maybe a cure could be found before long.

This film was made by Bob Saget about his sister's battle with scleroderma. To not only document what she and their family went through, but to put a face to the disease for us to better understand it. And on that it succeeds at every level.

It starts off slowly, introducing Hope's family, including her brother, a sitcom writer in California. Then we meet Hope, a single mother and teacher in her late thirties. Once the disease begins, she struggles to discover just what it is that's causing her pain, and only later learns what she's facing.

Her family's reactions of denial, confusion, anger, guilt, fatigue, and utter frustration are all displayed well and with feeling. Her brother's way of reacting to everything with a joke is annoying at first, and then you realize that this is his way of dealing with the crisis. The way he's always coped with life. It's given him a television career and a great home, and yet it can't help him in the face of his sister's illness. (Still, having said that, throughout the movie are jokes of poor taste, and the film would benefit if the first and last scenes, at the restaurant, were cut.)

But the star of the film is Delany, in a powerful performance. She goes to the core of the rage and grief over what has become of her body. It's a heart-rending journey as she tries to cling to her dignity, her family, and her life.

In short, this movie is not easy to watch, but necessary if you hope to understand what people with scleroderma are battling each day.

P.S. For an interesting side note, both Saget and Delany were involved in benefits for scleroderma even before Saget's sister became ill. And for more on Delany's involvement with the Scleroderma Foundation, see http://www.danadelany.com/extras-causes.htm