April 2018 Update

We are continuing to go forward with the movie. Allen completed the rough edit of the film footage, all 2 1/2 hours of it and we were able to obtain the services of David Eichhorn a seasoned and award winning sound and film editor. Tamir, Niko, Allen, and I  met with David and his amazing wife. The meeting really felt like a gathering of old friends as we chatted about how our film came to be. David was very happy with the project and I am sure he will be doing great things to provide us the professional finished look we strived for. It is already looking amazing.


Allen completed the new cover and added photos of the filming to the original novel Resilient Hearts, that inspired our film. We are going with a self publishing option through Amazon, so now Allen gets to do all of the work. I will let you all know when it will be available.


Otherwise all is well and in Tamir and Niko's capable hands. I will provide more details as they happen.


Thanks for all of your prayers and positive thoughts, and you might want to start picking out what you are going to wear to the premiere!!!!

We Did It !!!!!

We made and actually surpassed our goal of raising $10,000 on ago-find-me site! This money will pay for an experienced editor to come in and take Allen’s (my hubby) draft of the full movie to the next level. Allen has worked tirelessly since January on putting the filmed scenes together in the correct sequence and has worked with improving the sound and color so the next editor will have a workable draft to essentially clean up, shorten to 90 minutes, adjust the coloring throughout the film to make it uniform, sinc up the sound and music, and just in general, provide us with a polished professional looking finished product. Any remaining funds will go to improving or adding to the sound, filming and inserting additional scene connections to better transition one scene to the next. I am not sure why it finally feels like this movie will happen, but it does. There are so many wonderful people to thank for helping us get so far. I am so grateful that they believed in the story I needed to tell. Most of all I am grateful for the opportunity I was given to work with my amazing patients and their families. They are the true stars, actually angels that have helped guide us through this project. I want to thank everyone for helping me give them a voice. Hey, I may have just written my Oscar acceptance speech!! HaHa!!!!

March Update

I realized since I am only doing monthly blogs I no longer need a fancy title. So here we go for March.
I am sitting in the lobby of a hotel in Fort Worth Texas at 5am (3am PST) . Gee I wish I hadn’t figured that out, now I’m really tired!! Anyway, I am here to speak at the Cow Town oncology conference . They have an on-going cowboy theme for the conference so, I get to lecture in jeans, my version of cowboy boots (ankle highs) and wear a cowboy hat 🤠. By the way, I hate hats !!! So while I wait for my ride to the conference, I thought I would blog.
A few cool things are happening, first, we got the rights to the song by Norman Greenbaum Spirit in the Sky. So that was pretty exciting. Guess they liked what we are doing and really came through for us. A big happening is that our very own Niko has agreed to take on a producer role for the film! His involvement has really helped and he is working closely with Tamir to get funding and talk to potential investors. We are in the last few days of our Go Fund Me project and on Monday we are planning to do a live Pod Cast to help promote the film. So, get your friends and family together to listen and donate! We are looking at numerous possibilities for additional funding. We will keep you up to date on our progress. Allen is working diligently on putting together a rough edit of our film so the final editing will go more quickly when we hire an experienced editor to work on coloring and timing. The edits I wanted for my book are done and Allen is working on the cover and picking the photos for the insert pages. I will let all of you know when it will be available. I am also working on a teaching version of my book so students can get the most learning from the film and original novel. Whew, I am really getting tired now just thinking about it and it doesn’t help that it is only 3:30!!

Well that’s about it. Thank you all for your interest and support of this project. It is proving to be an amazing ride! Keep those prayers and positive thoughts coming. More to come!!

February Update

Guess a monthly entry is the way I will be doing things. Tamir is busy interviewing editors to work with Allen’s rough edit of the film. Allen is shooting for a finish date of March 1st, then final editing will start to improve the general flow of the movie, the color and sound will also be addressed. It’s been a lot of work for Allen and everyone involved.

Niko and Rupinder have kindly agreed to help with marketing and the needed interviews and promotions that Tamir is organizing. I think it speaks volumes when key actors believe in a film project so strongly that they agree to help with post production! Thanks you two!!!

Tamir got some positive feedback at Sundance about our project. Everyone felt it would make a great TV series! So, We are definitely committed to staying active with talking to people and asking for financial help to complete the technical needs of the film and to look at marketing options. Multiple “go fund me” type sites have been established and we are continuing to work closely with my Supportive Care Depsrtment to explore educational opportunities. So everyone keep your fingers crossed!!

One final shout out to Monique and Jacob. Seems Resilient Hearts May have caused a love connection! Best of luck to two awesome people!!

Well more later, stay tuned!!

Going Forward

Thought I should check in at least monthly. I will admit to some serious distractions from the holidays and a great case of the flu. Allen and I enjoyed our time in Kentucky visiting the grand children. McKenna was exceptionally cuddly when she wasn’t running around like a crazy child, and Kailei is staying true to her inner hippie and picked out her first guitar, pink of course. Allen gave her a few lessons while we were there and she seems to like it. The freezing temperatures were a challenge and I can appreciate the heated seats and steering wheels in their cars. Of course, no holiday visit would be complete without catching the flu. It hit me on the plane ride home!! What an aweful experience. I continued to battle the flu and made it into work for two days only to relapse and  add another version to the mix. I am not a good patient! I hated staying home, but I was of no use at work. Anyway, so far Allen has been fine. He and Tamir worked on trailers for the movie. The latest version was just posted on our website, so be sure to check them out. The newest version gives the names of the actors just like in s real movie (haha). I am so proud of all the hard work that has gone into this. I just know something great will come from all of this.

I am in the process of editing the original novel used for the film. There is so much more information and detail that I wish I could have put in the movie. Oh well, maybe another chance will allow us to share those details.

Tamir is working with a possible editor to help Allen. Allen is still working on the rough draft of the film. I cannot wait to see it. There will be one last trailer by this editor so we can see how he works. So we will have lots of material to promote the movie.

Finally, Tamir is planning to attend the Sundance Film Festival in Utah . It starts January 20th. So fingers crossed that he makes some connections. In the meantime, since work places are turning back to normal, we hope to continue discussions with City of Hope for their formal involvement. I am shooting for a May premiere. So, keep the prayers and good thoughts coming.

Happy Holidays

Just a few things going on, but with the holidays almost upon us that is to be expected. My husband Allen, is hard at work sinking the film's scenes with their sound tracts, deleting duplicate and unusable footage, and working with Tamir (one of our executive producers) to put together a trailer that reflects the very best of our film. Allen also completed a trailer for our potential health care providers to review. They wanted to see the core teaching opportunities the film provides to help them decide if they want to invest in our final development needs.

Our next step is for Allen to edit the entire film into a rough draft. This will be easier given all of the organizing he has done. Allen does not need to spend time on correcting color or having the sound match up perfectly in a rough cut. Tamir and Jenia have found experienced movie editors that are willing to take what Allen has organized and develop a finished end product. We will all be in a position to add our opinions and agree on the final product. Allen will continue to work with the editor and gain even more expertise in the process. Tamir and Jenna are talking up the film and through them and Raj there may even be some international interest!

Allen submitted photos he took during the filming and an explanation about the film's subject to an on-line photography magazine called JPG (jpgmag.com) and it was selected as the article of the week! So see, we are slowly becoming famous!

Well I just wanted to share the updates and wish everyone a happy holiday season. I am going to make Allen take a break and fly with me to see the grand babies. Kailei and McKenna enjoyed their acting debut and continue to sing the Niko song every chance they get. Keep our project in your prayers and good thoughts. I will check in again next year.

Keeping the Dream alive

I want to continue my blog through the post production process. I just don't want anyone to think this project stops with the end of filming. Allen and Tamir are collaborating on new film trailers for the general public and for health care providers now that we have footage from the whole film to work with. Then the marketing begins as we try to get investors to help with production expenses such as editing and obtaining music rights. We hope to have a finished product by March or April. I would like to plan a permit for nurses week the beginning of May. So fingers crossed!!

We will be checking into film festivals and will keep everyone notified of the details. In the meantime we are establishing a corporation  to meet CA business requirements. We took the name "Resilient Hearts Project  LLC". I know real original.

And, final news. Jillian and Niko just finished in the recording stuudio and we now have a useable version of our song "You'll Never Be Alone". Who knew Niko could sing so well? Jillian was awesome as usual. Plans for the song use in the film are being looked explored.

Well more later, just wanted everyone to know we are still around.