Sharing the vision epilepsy: life’s turning point Gavin Dimitri

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THE EPILEPSY REPORT OCTOBER 2008

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                          THE EPILEPSY REPORT OCTOBER 2008

in

Rachel, a young single mother living 

in country NSW who told me she had 

decided to undergo brain surgery to rid 

her of the epilepsy that was ruling her 

life.

We talked about the processes 

involved in film-making and whether 

she would be willing to allow us 

to document her journey. Rachel 

explained that her life was out of 

control and she wanted to have the 

surgery because it might give her the 

chance to free her of her epilepsy and 

give her a new life, a ‘perfect life’.

Filming began with a solid week at 

the Austin while Rachel underwent 

the assessment process to determine 

whether surgery could be performed 

safely. Rachel had faced many 

problems during her life and there 

were certain aspects that she didn’t 

want to discuss on camera initially.  

But after hanging around the hospital 

for the week a trust developed between 

us, and with this trust came Rachel’s 

willingness to talk about her abusive 

past. Her honesty and candour about 

her past, revealing many of the 

insecurities she felt about her own 

self worth, about wanting to be a 

good mother, to have a job, to be seen 

as ‘normal’ gave enormous depth to 

the film and we all felt privileged to 

witness it. 

Rachel has since moved back to 

Queensland to be closer to some of 

her family and her life has turned 

around. Almost two years on from her 

surgery, Rachel remains seizure-free 

and has a wonderful man in her life. 

She is happy in her new relationship, 

has more family support and is 

enjoying being a mother more than she 

previously did. While she is yet to find 

a job, she seems pretty happy with her 

life as it is.  Is it perfect or not, I don’t 

know, but I think Rachel would say it’s 

pretty close.

In April this year, a quietly confident 

Rachel and her new partner, along 

with Fiona Cochrane, attended a free 

screening of Rachel: a perfect life at 

the Australian Centre for the Moving 

Image in Melbourne, organized by the 

Epilepsy Foundation of Victoria.

Fiona Cochrane and Cinematographer/Editor Zbigniew Friedrich

“

This award-winning documentary can be purchased online at

www.frontrowvideo.com.au

 

or by calling [phone]

Awards

CINE Golden Eagle Award (USA) 2008

Gold Plaque, HUGO television Awards/Chicago International Film Festival (USA) 2008

Best Feature Documentary POW Fest/Portland Women’s Film Festival (USA) 2008

Bronze REMI Award Worldfest-Housten (USA) 2008

Honourable Mention Accolade Competition (USA) 2007

Finalist New York Festivals’ Film & Video Awards (Health/Medicine) 2008

Rachel: a perfect life

 Film-making has always been 

a passion for Fiona Cochrane, 

particularly documentaries that 

explore sociopolitical issues 

with her body of work  to date 

covering such subject matter as 

teenage single mothers, child 

sexual abuse, sexual assault and 

‘women’s issues’, and indigenous 

issues. Having trained as a doctor, 

more recently Fiona has turned 

her attention to medically-based 

documentaries, the first of these 

is the feature length documentary 

Rachel: a perfect life.

Film-maker Fiona Cochrane talks to Denise Chapman about 

the making of her new documentary on epilepsy surgery and 

the resilient young woman who laid her life bare for her.

T

he 

idea of exploring the subject of 

epilepsy surgery came to me quite 

serendipitously. While researching 

possibilities for a medical-based 

documentary, I arranged to meet with 

Professor Sam Berkovic in his office at 

the Austin Hospital in Melbourne, to 

find out more about his world-leading 

research into the genetics of epilepsy. 

While waiting to chat with Professor 

Berkovic, I chanced upon a personal 

account written by New Zealander 

Brigitte Diessl about the life-changing 

brain surgery that had freed her of 

seizures. This personal journey made 

fascinating reading and the idea 

formed that perhaps this could be a 

subject worth telling. 

When I sat down with Professor 

Berkovic, we explored the possibility 

of making a documentary around 

epilepsy surgery, and when Brigitte 

came over for a medical review I had 

the opportunity to meet her and hear 

her story first-hand. 

But we had difficulty finding a 

suitable patient to follow through the 

assessment and surgical process, so 

as the months ticked by I decided to 

do a dramatization of Brigitte’s story 

instead since there was some footage 

of her surgery available. Then Rachel 

came along.

It was actually Professor Berkovic 

who found Rachel. She had been 

referred to his clinic in Melbourne 

from NSW, and he asked her if she 

would be interested in being involved 

in a documentary. Professor Berkovic 

then contacted me to tell me that he 

had seen a young woman who might 

be suitable candidate. I met with 

“

Rachel: a pefect life (DVD 90mins)

Produced and directed by Fiona Cochrane, f-reel, Australia, 2007.

FrontRow Distribution, Specialists in Education.

This intimate observational documentary 

follows Rachel through the assessment 

process for surgery and the subsequent 

brain surgery that could stop the seizures 

that were ruling her life.

We see the assessment she has to 

go through prior to the surgery itself, 

including interviews with some of the 

world’s leading neurosurgeons, her 

convalescence and finally her reunion 

with her children.

Through this film, viewers feel they have 

travelled every minute of the journey with 

Rachel and it’s truly worth it.  This is a 

not-to-be-missed documentary, giving 

insight into not only epilepsy itself, but 

how it impacted on Rachel’s life to the 

point where she felt she had no other 

option but to proceed with surgery.

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