Akron Transplant

So our month at Akron Children's Hospital is coming to a close. This is our most special project and we are honored to be a part of it for a third time. We follow several patients through their surgeries, treatments, and appointments to capture the true experience of being treated at ACH. This footage yields several commercial spots that are tender, gripping, sometimes funny and always honest representations. 

This year, we fell in love with 6-year-old Sekou who will be in the hospital for about 9 weeks. He is receiving a bone marrow transplant from his brother, Mohamed, age 10, to help cure his sickle cell anemia. Sekou is such a bright kid, mature for his age as any kid might be when dealing with a life-threatening illness, but still only 6. There are moments when he is brave and helps the nurses to access his med port, and there are moments when he is scared and a huge single tear rolls down his cheek. We spent three weeks gaining his trust and friendship, letting him explore our cameras and climb on our backs, playing cards, telling jokes, and watching Spongebob with him. And has grown so comfortable with us that we can't bring ourselves to tell him that our shooting is over - we're going to continue to visit him through the rest of his weeks in the hospital.

With increased medications and IV cables, he would spend more and more time in bed and less time playing each week. Eventually, Mohamed's bone marrow was harvested and Sekou received it through his port, just like a blood transfusion would be administered. Now, his body will take time to adjust and the new stem cells will take root. His mother is so relieved, and so are we. 

Next week we'll meet with editor Mike O'Brien at the Carson Group to see some rough cuts. We have about 40 hours of footage, so Mike has his hands full.