‘Gleason’ Documentary Follows NFL Star’s Journey With ALS

NFL star Steve Gleason will go down in history in New Orleans for his antics on the football field but his name will also be remembered off the field, for everything he did to raise awareness of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

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Steve was diagnosed with the fatal disease in 2011 at the age of 34 and since then has tirelessly campaigned for better rights for fellow ALS patients. He created a foundation called Team Gleason that aims to help ALS sufferers receive the latest life-changing technology–technology that could help with mobility, communication and just generally improve their quality of life.

A few weeks after his diagnosis, Steve and his wife Michel discovered they were going to have a baby. Steve felt a renewed purpose in life; he was going to be a dad. Read more here.

Steve decided he would turn his journey with ALS and fatherhood into a video blog diary, which was then turned into a documentary called Gleason. It premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.

The documentary focuses on Steve’s relationship with his son Rivers, showing the tender moments they shared together as a family despite his deteriorating health. Gleason uses the documentary as a platform to speak to his son, to show him the father he was before the disease took hold and to impart some guidance for his future. Find out more about the documentary Gleason here. 

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