Together with a small film crew, Simon travelled across the USA and Botswana to direct, produce and edit this selection of short patient films for Luminous and Octapharma.
A key part of each patient’s story was photography. Simon took still portraits of each person and also captured their life in a reportage style. These photographs were then used for marketing collateral, such as printed advertising campaigns, websites and social media.
The films were packaged up for a variety of purposes and were translated into four languages. We handled all the post production.
There were a lot of logistics involved during this film trip; we organised all travel and transport for the crew. It was an incredible experience and challenging at times, arranging drone flights and filming permissions across the globe.
Kerri
Kerri is a friendly, easy-going and caring nurse at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital in Palo Alto, California, USA. Six months after she was born, Kerri was diagnosed with Von Willebrand Disease (VWD), a genetic blood clotting disorder that affects about 1% of all people.
Sebaga
Now 11, Sebaga is not only beautiful and adventurous, but she is clearly involved in managing her condition and learning how to adjust to life with von Willebrand disease. In her early childhood, she had recurrent bleeds requiring hospitalisation, with some of them being life-threatening.
Nick
Nick has lived with haemophilia his entire life. He devotes his working hours to raising awareness about the illness, and helping other haemophiliacs in the USA live their best lives through his work and his different non-profit organisations.
Laurel
Laurel was 49 years old before doctors finally confirmed her common variable immunodeficiency diagnosis. Like many other patients, she had spent many years since childhood under the care of multiple specialists without getting an accurate diagnosis to explain the root cause of her recurring illnesses.
Andrew
Andrew was just 3 years old when his doctor told Deb and Tony their son had Type 2a severe von Willebrand disease (VWD).