THE CHILD WHO FADES AWAY

The child who fades away is a 5 minutes short film in English written and created by me - with 0 budget and an all volunteers crew and cast - to shed a light on DIPG (diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma), a type of childhood cancer that affects children almost exclusively and for which the survival rate is 0%. 
A CHILD WHO GETS DIAGNOSED WITH DIPG TODAY HAS THE SAME PROGNOSI OF A CHILD DIAGNOSED 40 YEARS AGO.
The child who fades away
Year: 2019
Countries: Italy/UK
Language: English with Italian subtitles
Directed by: Maricla Pannocchia and Leonardo Barone
Screenplay by: Maricla Pannocchia
Dad: Christian Lenzi
Mum: Maricla Pannocchia
Sarah: Sofia Rovera
Sarah's voiceover (english): Sophie Crombie
Adult's voiceover (english): Rory Smith
in collaboration with Noar Noar Academy Florence. 
The short film has been uploaded on my charity's Facebook page for everyone to see for free since its main goal is to spread awareness about DIPG so feel free to share it on your social handles. If you would like to publish it or review it or simply talk about it on your blog/website etc is free but please get in touch so I can share your contribution, thanks so much! mariclapannocchia@outlook.it
  • DIPG (diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, a type of brain cancer) has 0% survival rate. When I discovered about it, I was shocked. We’re in 2020, how is that possible that a type of childhood cancer is allowed to have a 0% survival rate? DIPG is a brain tumor that affects children almost exclusively. Approximately 200-400 children in the United States are diagnosed with DIPG each year. These children are typically between the ages of 4 and 11. As a DIPG tumor begins to grow, it puts pressure on the nerves that control the essential bodily functions regulated by the pons. Children with DIPG commonly experience double vision, reduced eye movement, facial weakness or asymmetry, and arm and leg weakness. They also have problems with walking, coordination, speech, chewing, and swallowing. It does not affect the child’s clarity so they remain aware of what they are losing and all the changes in their bodies. As the tumor progresses, it also interferes with breathing and heartbeat, which ultimately results in the child’s death. No one knows what causes a child to develop a DIPG tumor. Unlike many brain tumors, a DIPG tumor cannot be removed through surgery. Attempting surgical removal of a brain stem tumor would likely cause severe neurological damage and could even be fatal. Radiation is part of the standard course of treatment for DIPG patients, as it is the only form of treatment that has proven benefits. For roughly 70% of DIPG patients, radiation causes the tumor to shrink, which provides relief from many of the symptoms associated with DIPG.
The benefits of radiation, however, are only temporary. Even for those patients whose tumors shrink during radiation, the treatment does not increase their chances of survival, and the tumor begins to grow again within months.   Because DIPG patients who do not undergo radiation have a median survival length of roughly 5 months, radiation therapy typically extends a patient’s life by about 3 months. In the past 30 years, DIPG patients have participated in more than 250 clinical trials. These trials have involved a wide array of chemotherapy drugs – sometimes alone and sometimes in combination with other drugs. None of these studies have shown any benefit in either the likelihood of survival or the median length of survival. A child diagnosed with DIPG today faces the same prognosis as a child diagnosed 40 years ago. There is still no effective treatment and no chance of survival. Only 10% of children with DIPG survive for 2 years following their diagnosis, and less than 1% survive for 5 years.   The median survival time is 9 months from diagnosis. It goes without saying that, since DIPG is considered “rare”, is severly underfunded.