New stretch target
Raising more money simply means telling more of Sophia's story, and connecting her story to other children and families that have had similar experiences.
A documentary short that gives us a window into Sophia’s world, after she had a stroke aged 9 in the height of the covid pandemic.
by Annalise Valentino in London, Greater London, United Kingdom
Raising more money simply means telling more of Sophia's story, and connecting her story to other children and families that have had similar experiences.
2020 was a wild ride, but there were 8 minutes in particular that changed my sisters life forever.
In June 2020 in the height of the pandemic, Sophia aged 9, had an ischaemic stroke resulting in a acquired brain injury. Sophia had no previous health issues and really, we were totally unaware children could have strokes.
3 years on and now almost 13, Sophia asked if we could make a video about what happened. I obviously took that pretty seriously, and here we are about to make our first documentary short together.
She wants to tell her story, and I want to help her paint that portrait. Sophia’s made an absolutely phenomenal effort in her rehabilitation (as well as starting secondary school and entering her teens, which we all know from experience is hard enough!). My sister has a unique perspective, a fierce attitude, and an unrelenting fight in her rehabilitation (despite it not always playing ball). Mostly though, there is beauty, purity and something about the way she shares her feelings that has me so engaged.
We’ve raised a brilliant chunk of money so far and we are working towards our first shoot days this summer. Sophia gets fatigued very quickly, as a result of this we will split shooting up across a longer period of days which inevitably has cost implications, so I’m looking to raise the final amount to allow for the extra shoot time.
If you can donate I would be eternally grateful, but if that’s not an option right now, I’d be just as grateful for anyone that can spread the word, share words of advice, or even just watch and share the trailer.
Sophia’s experience and how she tells her story has changed my life and how I engage with every single person around me. I truly hope letting you into our lives, and giving her a platform to share her experience will do a little of the same for you.