My illness is excruciating and difficult to cope with. It takes over your entire life and causes more suffering than I can describe.

But with nonfiction, the task is very straightforward: Do the research, tell the story

The biggest problem has been exhaustion. I've spent about 6 of the last 14 years completely bedridden.

Without dignity, identity is erased.

Fatigue is what we experience, but it is what a match is to an atomic bomb.

I look at the film as an opportunity to see some bountifully creative minds do something that I could not do - tell the story with images. I can't wait to see what they do.

I identified in a very deep way with the individuals I was writing about because the theme that runs through this story is of extraordinary hardship and the will to overcome it.