Bring your Kleenex to the theatre when you see ‘Living with Lew’. It is an emotional glimpse into the life of Scott Lew whose diagnosis of Lou Gehrig’s disease drives him to pursue his dream of directing his first feature film.

ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease is a usually-fatal, neuro-muscular disease, which leads to the loss of the ability to breathe, speak, chew, swallow or support one’s own body weight. Because ALS attacks only motor neurons, the senses are not affected. For the vast majority of people, the intellect remains sharp while the body deteriorates.

Diagnosed in 2003, at the young age of 33, Scott makes the choice to come to terms with his disease and instead of focusing on his deteriorating condition, chooses to direct his first feature film, ‘Bickford Shmeckler’s Cool Ideas’.

His friend Adam Bardach, also a film-maker, documented Scott’s trials and triumphs during the three years it took to make his feature film and the result is ‘Living with Lew’.

It is his sharp wit and intellect Scott uses to handle his diagnosis and also to help his family, who clearly struggle to make the most out of Scott’s life without allowing the disease to control them.

Throughout the documentary Scott manages to keep his wit about him, which makes the film very funny much like his directorial debut ‘Bickford Schmeckler’s Cool Ideas’.

However, the few scenes where his humour fails, the seriousness and weight of the disease come crashing down and provide an honest reflection on living with ALS.

As he becomes more wheelchair-bound and starts to lose the ability to uses his hand, continually has to fight to breath because of his diminished lung capacity, and every day tasks become hurdles, humour becomes harder to maintain.

Right beside him, throughout is his wife, who, as Scott says in the documentary, was also diagnosed with ALS because of the care and help she must provide for him. The oath of to take the person in their sickness and their health becomes very vivid in the couple’s struggles with the disease, however, the only time tears escape from Scott or his wife is when discussing their future.

With ALS patients only given five to six years to live, on average, the couple truly know what the next years will bring them.The Kleenex will come in handy as Scott progresses with his disease, yet he also achieves his dream of writing and directing a feature film.

The movie truly makes you realise, what Scott had to realise, that life must be vivid and your dreams need to be pursued, but you also need your family and strong people surrounding you. A truly humbling movie.