Parents' Guide to For Love & Life: No Ordinary Campaign

This documentary details the inspiring story of ALS patient Brian Wallach and his wife Sandra and their nonprofit "I AM ALS." A moving and emotional film, For Love & Life: No Ordinary Campaign is a wonderful example of how the will, determination, and hope of a few can make great positive change for many. Before Brian and Sandra's efforts, federal funding for ALS research was only $10 million a year, but because of their tireless campaigning, speaking, and community building, federal funding over the last 5 years for ALS research was over $1 billion. Solid interviews, home footage, public speaking platforms, and meetings with politicians paint a compelling picture of Brian's exhaustive work. Brian's appearances testifying to Congress are highlights, as his speeches get to the heart of what I AM ALS is about and what they are trying to do and achieve. Bluntly, each speech is simply concluded with the phrase, "I want to live."

More common than many people might think, 1 in 300 people in their lifetime will receive an ALS diagnosis. Once an immediate "death sentence," many ALS patients now don't have to immediately face an inevitable and short timeframe of 1-2 years or even 2-5 years. Because of recent advancements in ALS research and positive outcomes of drug clinical trials, many ALS patients will be able to live longer and better. Also, because of Brian and Sandra's work, and others in the ALS community, the ALS Disability Insurance Access Act was passed in 2020, and the ACT for ALS bill was signed into law by President Biden in 2022. Incredibly, none of the above would have happened without the efforts of Brian and Sandra, who took a devastating diagnosis and instead of succumbing to its known probabilities, fought it, the healthcare system, and government regulation red tape to get ALS patients now and in the future the help, care, and attention they deserve.