Breathing is a documentary about life, death, love and the hope provided by cutting edge genetic science. The film tells the story of Neil Platt, a bright, energetic 33 year old architect and father who developed Motor Neurone Disease, one of the last incurable diseases which leads to paralysis and eventual death.
Breathing is an intimate story about how Neil, his wife Louise and son Oscar dealt with the legacy of MND which had affected his family for 3 generations. It is told against the backdrop of a wider story of our genetic code, and the work of a scientist, Professor Chris Shaw, who is leading world research into finding a cure thanks to revolutionary developments in genetic science. Neil began to display symptoms when his son Oscar was just 2 months old. His foot gave way when he was drinking in a pub with pals and he was soon diagnosed with MND by Professor Chris Shaw. Within a year, he was paralysed from the neck down.
“ Time passes very quickly, so much so that the weeks slide into months
without me knowing.”
In the last 6 months of his life Neil wrote a witty and widely read blog with the verve of a young man, whose perspective had been transformed by his proximity to death. Creative interpretation of this blog is an important element of the film. Neil was driven to write his blog to raise awareness of MND. He knew that Oscar had a 50: 50 chance of contracting the disease.
Ten days after Neil died, Chris Shaw located a second gene responsible for causing MND. He is now on a search to find the rest of the genes in order to prevent the next generation from getting this devastating, incurable disease.
We started filming with Neil some months before he died, at his behest and were increasingly inspired by his desire to communicate. The camera played a vital role in how he dealt with the process of dying. It became a link with a future he wouldn’t be part of. The blog was equally important and he dictated it right up until the day before he died with a heart breaking entry called 99,100…Coming Ready Or Not, which he insisted be filmed by his wife, Louise.
