How To Fight An Invisible Illness - Jennifer Brea, Creator & Director of “Unrest”

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It took Jennifer Brea over a year of seeing doctors and getting second, third and fourth opinions to even land on a diagnosis for a disease that suddenly left her bedridden for days, weeks, months–sometimes unable to turn on a light or even listen to music because of unbearable pain. Was the reluctance to diagnose Jennifer due to a lack of knowledge about a condition that affects millions of people in the US–mostly women? Or were there other, unstated prejudices standing in the way of Jennifer getting treatment?

To show the world that this is a real disease with a truly debilitating impact on her life–not just in her head–and to inspire the medical community to take the lead on finding answers–Jennifer created a film, mostly from her bed, out of the videos she captured of herself, others like her and the few experts there are. Her film is called "Unrest."

Photo by Sam Heesen

Photo by Sam Heesen