Press release written by Stephanie Lesage.
The 1st hybrid event co-organised by Phage-UK will be held in Oxford, UK on Friday 7th October 2022 from 17:30 to 20:00.
Very generously hosted by the #saidbusinessschool in Oxford, UK, co-organised with Will Battersby, film director, and Diane Shader Smith, mother of the late patient featured in the film. The in-person evening will start at 17:30 with the screening of Salt in My Soul, a powerful and touching film featuring Mallory, a patient with cystic fibrosis, who sadly could not be treated early enough with bacteriophages to survive an antibiotic-resistant super-bug. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion on bacteriophage therapy in the UK, shared live, online, from 19:15.
About Salt in My Soul
Salt in My Soul is a touching story and powerful introduction to the potential for phage therapy as one of the alternatives to help counter the threat to modern medicine posed by antibiotic resistance. The film is based on the diaries of a remarkable young woman, Mallory Smith who was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis (CF) at the age of 3. Subsequently, her lungs became infected with a bacteria that is often found in CF patients, which was resistant to all available antibiotics and was the cause of her death at the age of 25.
Mallory remained determined to live a meaningful and happy life despite her struggle with the disease. Becoming a well-known cystic fibrosis advocate, she embarked on a career as a professional writer, recording her thoughts and observations about struggles and feelings and leaving instructions for her mother Diane to publish her work posthumously. She hoped that her writing would offer insight to those living with, or loving someone with, chronic illness. Diane helped publish the book that Mallory wrote when she was ill, and, with the help of film director Will Battersby, also adapted the book as this poignant film. We are very pleased that Diane and Will have agreed to remotely attend the screening and sit on the panel.
Salt in My Soul is a call for all of us to embrace our own lives as fully as possible. The film illustrates the need for alternatives such as phage therapy to treat patients for whom antibiotics no longer work. Mallory was sadly unable to access phage therapy early enough to prevent her death.
The event will be hosted by the SAID Business School in Oxford, very generously making one of their lecture theatres available for the screening and panel discussion.
Phage-UK aims to develop the capability to deliver phage therapy to UK patients through its growing network of clinicians and scientists. It has organised this event to raise awareness of the potential of phage therapy to provide novel treatments to counter the threat from antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections.
The link to a trailer for the film is below:
If you would like to attend the event in person in Oxford at 17:30, kindly send an email to stephaniellesage@gmail.com directly.
For those who are further away and would like to attend the event remotely, please register for the online event using the following link: https://lnkd.in/eGSQgMqw.
We look forward to sharing this beautiful story and insights on the need to bring phage therapy to the UK!