New Film Chronicles Families From Around the World Living with a Rare Disease

Plagued by a burning pain in his hands and feet since childhood, a German artist’s kidneys mysteriously begin to fail. He needed a kidney transplant to save his life. Or a Brazilian wife’s marriage is tested after her husband develops a mysterious illness – straining their relationship and making it impossible to plan for the future.

These are just two of the intimate stories explored in a new film, Facing Fabry Together, now available on Facing Fabry Together’s Website and its YouTube Channel.

The film was sponsored by Genzyme, a Sanofi company, and is the first effort to understand the global impact of Fabry disease by speaking to patients and families affected by this genetic disease.

The documentary follows the lives of families in Canada, Germany, Brazil and France who are living with Fabry disease, which is a rare and complex genetic disorder that affects the skin, heart, brain, kidneys, the skin and the gastrointestinal system. The purpose of the film is to expand awareness and inform others about Fabry disease by capturing the unique experiences of four families who are separated by geography but bound by the common experience of living with the disease.

The film also offers commentary from two leading medical experts on Fabry disease: David Warnock, MD, director of nephrology and professor of medicine and physiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and Daniel Bichet, MD, M.Sc, nephrologist and researcher at the research center of Montreal’s Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur and professor at the University of Montreal. The film is the first ever to focus on Fabry disease while helping spread awareness of the disease during Fabry Disease Awareness Month in April.

Submitted by: Monique Reuben of Berry & Company PR