Starfish, written and directed by Bill Clark

Starfish, written and directed by Bill Clark

This remarkable motion picture is based on a real, heartbreaking story!

Joanne Froggatt – perhaps most famous from her role in the now classic, appreciated all over the world Downton Abbey – has the role of Nicola Ray, an astounding, Wonder Woman, who finds the strength to face a calamity.

Furthermore, she does not just keep her calm, but she has to care for a husband without legs, arms and a normal face, while at the same time raising an infant and another very young daughter.

Tom Ray and his family have a Normal, good life in Rutland, when disaster strikes in the form of sepsis, a terrible affliction that we are told at the end of the motion picture affects tens of thousands in Britain, many of them killed by a disease that you can learn more about at their internet site, where you can probably do something to help:

https://www.sepsis.org/

Tom is alone in the house when he is so stricken he cannot move, call for help and he may have been dead if his spouse did not arrive, called the ambulance and after that, he received treatment that probably saved his life.

However, Nicola is soon to find that nine out of ten patients suffering from this awful condition die and the virus is very advanced in the organism of her husband, who shouts in pain, asking her to take the needles off his chest.

Given the advance of the disease, the life threat it represents for the victim, the doctors ask the wife to sign and agree with the operation that would severe the affected parts of the body, limbs and large areas have become black.

The bewildered, traumatized woman signs the documents and the next thing we know is the normal, full-bodied young Tom Ray has lost legs and arms, lies in the hospital bed with bandages almost everywhere.

Alas, this is not the end of the ordeal!

On some level, it feels like it is only the start of a long trauma.

For the doctors ask to meet Nicola Ray and state that the patient is still not recovering, he is in danger and his “face is dying”.

Therefore, they need to intervene again and cut portions from his face- when they say this, the already feeble, devastated heroine does not grasp what they ask for and when they push the documents for her to sign, she has a breakdown.

She is pregnant and starts having labor pains, delivering a second baby for the Ray family, on the other side of the hospital where her spouse is fighting for his life, with an ever-smaller body.

After the operation, the patient is brought home, with temporary hooks for arms, a face that is terrifying and when he asks the surgeon he says that this all he can do and there is no more intervention…it had anyway been his first.

The family has financial problems, on top of emotional and other issues, for Nicola talks publicly about how a rugby player, a service man or woman would be covered if they would suffer an accident, whereas Mr. Normal aka Tom Ray does not benefit from coverage, all the government gave them is a pair of sticks to help him walk!

When they sit at the table, in their home – soon to be sold because they can no longer afford it and much else – the man says that he needs to go to the toilet, his wife pushes him one-step at a time, while the children left in the kitchen need attention because of an unpredicted crisis!

How can a human being cope with that?!

In addition, having to face it on a regular basis!

The short answer is:

Nicola Ray is the real, ultimate Wonder Woman for you!

There are many moments when she appears to be on the brink of collapse and we can all understand that, especially after they have to leave their home, abandon the car they used to have, move in with her mother and see Tom Ray fall apart for a good while, as he starts drinking.

He feels depressed – who would not?! – useless, overwhelmed by the impression that he is treated as a hopeless child by mother-in-law and spouse, and he thinks she may abandon him, even if she explains that it is actually the reverse.

Albeit not a horror motion picture, this is more difficult to watch than any feature from that genre – granted, the under signed avoids the species and is unable to tell with accuracy – for the Real story of these Super Humans is incredible, even if True!

There may be hope that they overcome adversity and beat trauma, against all odds!