Lorenzo’s Oil is based on the true story of Augusto and Michaela Odone who search for the cure to their son’s disease adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD). The movie received two nominations for Best Actress in a Leading Role and Best Original Screenplay in the 65th Academy Awards. The movie stands the test of time as love knows no boundaries.

Mind Stars – Nick Nolte, Susan Sarandon, Peter Ustinov, Zack O’Malley Greenburg

What we like

• The portrayal of the moments of anguish, triumph and sheer determination
• Through their quest they have forged a way forward to help the lives of many other families
  

Mind Experience

• Sometimes in life we are given a challenge. We are presented with what may seem an insurmountable obstacle from which we have choices on the way forward. A road can be taken that many have traveled. Acceptance of the obstacle and surrender to it. Or one choice possibly is to seek, to take a new road. A road that may lead the way and pave a path that others may follow. The Odone’s had the strength and conviction of character coupled with an obsession to find a cure for their son. Through an obsession based in selfless love a focus allows all your resources in one laser like point of action. Through that concentration cracking a code that no one else has been able to see. Even without the standard education you can sort to educate yourself if you have the motivation to do so. If you have the will to do so…

To think about

• Augusto Odone: When we first went to the Comoros, what did we do? We got to know the country, right?
  Michaela Odone: Yes
  Augusto Odone: We studied, we got to know the language, resources, its law. We studied, right? We should treat Lorenzo’s illness like another country.
  Michaela Odone: I don’t quite see the analogy.
  Augusto Odone: Alright, alright. ALD has many dimensions, right?
  Michaela Odone: Yes
  Augusto Odone: So, in order to understand it, we need to command genetics, biochemistry, microbiology, neurology, ology-ology.
  Michaela Odone: Augusto, we don’t have time to go to medical school.
  Augusto Odone: Michaela, the doctors are in the dark. They’re groping in the dark. They’ve got Lorenzo on a turvy-topsy diet. And that bloody immunosuppression is brutal and useless. Michaela, we should not have consigned him blindly into their hands. He should not suffer by our ignorance. We take responsibility. So… we read a little. And we go out and inform ourselves.
  Michaela Odone: But… to miss time with him while he can still speak to us…
  Augusto Odone: Yes, I know, I know. But he expects it of us.
  

The Myelin Project – Lorenzo’s Oil
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