This year's Oscar-nominated films have shown a wide array of illnesses, health issues and even despair. Of course, all stories are only fiction, but reality is, the health concerns each movie had shown portrays the lives of millions of not only Americans, but also individuals around the globe.
First stop, Still Alice which stars Julianne Moore is about a professor who is suffering from the most common form of dementia, Alzheimer's disease. She had been robbed of her intellect and even her ability to recognize her family. Alzheimer's disease is not a rare illness. In fact, according to the Alzheimer's Association, more than 5 million Americans are living with the disease and it is the 6th leading cause of death in the United States.
Alzheimer's disease is a degenerative neurological disease characterized by gradual loss of the ability of the brain to deal with memory, language and thought. Sadly, there is still no known cure for this disease.
Next, the film 'The Theory of Everything' is a British biographical romantic drama film about the real life story of a physicist, Stephen Hawking, who has lived with one of the most debilitating disease ALS or Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
ALS, according to the ALS Association, is also known as the "Lou Gehrig's Disease," and is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. It causes increasing muscle weakness, especially involving the extremities, speech, swallowing or breathing.
The movie, Wild, on the other hand, is about depression. It is a movie starred by Reese Witherspoon as Cheryl Strayed wherein she embarks on a journey of self-destruction. Her marriage becomes troubled and she decided to walk a thousand miles off the Pacific Crest trail alone. Her clinical symptoms were descriptive of depression such as feelings of worthlessness, erratic behavior and thoughts of suicide.
Also, in the movie, her mother succumbed to lung cancer. Lung cancer is one of the deadliest forms of the disease for both men and women in the United States. Subsequently, half of those diagnosed with lung cancer will die within one year of diagnosis.
There are many health issues that can be seen in this year's lineup for the Oscars. The winners were concluded paving way for another successful year of film making.