A Lion in the House is a 2006 American documentary film directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert that explores the impact of childhood cancer on five different families throughout the span of six years in Ohio. The 225-minute long documentary, which took eight years to complete, follows the lives of cancer patients Justin Ashcraft, Al Fields, Alexandra Lougheed, Jen Moones, and Timothy Woods as they are treated at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.
The film premiered in January 2006 at the Sundance Festival and was broadcast on PBS in two segments on June 21 and June 22, 2006. The film has earned numerous awards and promoted pediatric cancer awareness.
Development
In early 1997, Julia Reichert received a call from Dr. Robert Arceci, the former chief of the Hematology and Oncology Department at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. Arceci was searching for filmmakers who would be willing to film a long-term documentary about children and their families coping with cancer. Reichert was initially hesitant about this proposal seeing as how, unbeknownst Arceci at the time, Reichert's seventeen-year-old daughter had experienced lymphoma cancer in 1996. Reichert and Bognar ultimately agreed to take on the responsibility of filming and editing the documentary.
The title of the documentary stems from an Isak Dinesen quote: "You know you are truly alive when you are living among lions." Reichert intended for the "lion" in this quote to represent cancer and to further show how "incredibly alert and fiercely protective" parents can be when their child faces a life-threatening disease.
In July 1997, Reichert and Bognar finally begin filming the documentary with Sony VX-1000 cameras. They were given wide access to film in the hospital's Hematology/Oncology department. Originally, Bognar and Reichert began filming the lives of eight families. This number eventually narrowed down to five once Bognar and Reichert began to connect especially with the Ashcrafts, the Fields, the Lougheeds, the Moones, and the Woods families.
Summary
The documentary film looks at the lives of five children and their families as they fight and cope with childhood cancer over the course of six years. Timothy Woods is diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma while Alexandra Lougheed, Justin Ashcraft, and Jennifer Moone are diagnosed with Leukemia. Alex Fields battles Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The documentary not only reveals the personal lives of the children, but shows medical decision-making processes among pediatric oncology healthcare professionals in the hospital. Throughout the course of the six years, some children survive their diseases while others do not.
Children featured
Timothy Woods
The documentary begins in Cincinnati, Ohio, with the introduction of fifteen-year-old Timothy Woods (referred to as Tim). It is explained that Tim was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph node glands. His symptoms, which were initially dismissed by doctors, manifested through a persistent cough and swollen neck that became progressively worse with time. It is also explained that eventually after more tests, Tim finally had to be rushed to the Cincinnati Children's Hospital's emergency department for immediate treatment.
Tim is shown to live with his brother, sister, various other family members, and mother, who is the head of the household. Tim admits that he enjoys the attention he receives from his family and doctors surrounding his cancer treatment. Throughout the course of his disease, Tim struggles with taking his medications and complying with his oncologists' orders to gain weight in order to build immunity and facilitate the chemotherapy process. He is caught lying about his weight several times. Tim's mother, Marietha, explains that "every day is a fight with him" when it comes to getting him to comply with his medical treatment. One of Tim's nurses also explains that Tim's non-compliance may stem from a desire to uphold and protect his image. He is forced to receive a nasogastric tube after this ordeal. Tim misses an entire year of school.