In this episode of HealthiNation’s Daytime Emmy Award-winning True Champions, Lyndsay Wright shares her experience living with multiple sclerosis and how that diagnosis transformed her into an active advocate within the MS community.
Through endurance events, fundraising and awareness activities, Lyndsay turned her experience with MS into action. The film follows not only the realities of living with the disease, but the family, community and sense of purpose surrounding her advocacy.
After identifying Lyndsay as a potential True Champions subject, I spent time with her and her family to understand the larger story beyond her diagnosis. I conducted the interviews in her own environment and returned to document events and activities connected to her MS advocacy.
That time was important to the filmmaking. Rather than constructing the profile entirely from an interview, I was able to observe Lyndsay’s life, relationships and advocacy as they happened—giving the story a more intimate, documentary quality.
The approach reflects what I wanted True Champions to become: character-driven films built through research, access and time spent with the people being profiled. The medical condition establishes the circumstances; the documentary is about the person living through them.
