‘My Left Hand’ follows two-year journey and triumph over epithelioid sarcoma
Seattle, Wash., October 2007 - What do you do when you’re 31-years old, married with two young children and facing cancer, the loss of your left hand, and possibly your life?
If you’re Seattle native Joshua Isaac, you get a camera and make My Left Hand - a thought-provoking and ultimately triumphant film.
Isaac, now 34, used his own creative talents as well the skills of family and friends to videotape much of his journey that began in 2004 when he was diagnosed with a reoccurrence of epithelioid sarcoma, a rare, cancerous tumor initially found in the palm of his left hand six years prior. The film follows Isaac and his family as they struggle with the spiritual, physical and emotional effects of chemotherapy, radiation, and ultimately amputation.
Isaac’s initial foray into filmmaking, My Left Hand was directed and produced by him and edited by another Seattle native, Stephen Sadis, and includes original music by Maryland-based artist Kevin Thornton.
The roughly 81-minute film premiered at the Seattle True Independent Film Festival (STIFF) in June 2007 where it won the Survivor Spirit Award. The film also screened in October 2007 at the Tacoma Film Festival winning the Audience Choice Award.
“Making the movie was a way for me to deal with the most difficult situation I‘ve ever faced,” said Isaac. “For one thing, as it was being shot it shifted my focus so that it didn't seem so real hearing that the cancer metastasized or how difficult the side effects of chemo were going to be. But I knew from the start of the journey that I wanted to do something positive and constructive from this experience. Now it’s my hope others can learn and find comfort from the film.”
Isaac, who works full-time in the Corporate Communications department of Microsoft Corporation, is now seeking sponsorship for the film in an effort to gain wider exposure to both humanize cancer patients and to send the message that a cancer diagnosis doesn’t have to be a death sentence.
“Making My Left Hand was therapy for me,” Isaac added. “It gave me a goal beyond just surviving. Every year nearly 1.3 million people in the U.S. are diagnosed with some form of cancer and another 10 million are living with or have survived cancer. I’d like to tell them what I’ve been through and that they need to keep fighting too.
“As we were going through the editing process for My Left Hand I was reliving all the emotions – the fear, the pain, the despair and the joy,” he added. “All that will be at least somewhat validated if I can reach out to others and maybe help them on a few steps of their journey.”
For copies of My Left Hand or more information contact Joshua Isaac at (206) 853-1769.
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