LOVE ALWAYS, MOM: A Hopeful Documentary Full Of Life

“Don’t wait until you are ready or you will never have one”. It’s a saying that every couple contemplating having children has heard. Couples on the verge of beginning a family, debating the life changes and financial hardships, worried they can not manage are always encouraged to take the dive. At no singular moment will everything line up perfectly to ease your worries; there will never be the perfect time.

For some, sadly, neither the perfect time or the moment to plunge ever comes to fruition. The prospect of expanding their family is answered with a resounding no, the journey now shifted and altered forever. This is the focus of Love Always, Mom, a documentary from a collaborated effort by Tricia Russo and Craig E. Shapiro. The film follows the emotional struggle of Tricia Russo and her husband Greg as they try to bring new life to the world through the combined efforts of a surrogate and an egg donor – all while Tricia fights stage 4 cancer.

Premiering at the Bentonville Film Festival, where it won for Best Documentary, Love Always, Mom is a fascinating film that sheds the light on a subject many do not and can not experience. Viewers will find it difficult not to be moved by Tricia and Greg as they watch a family struggle with the fight for not one life, but two. Love Always, Mom shows a hope in the depths of darkness while displaying the benefits of sheer determination and will.

A Documentary of Hope

Love Always, Mom begins with a healthy happy little girl, her parents reflecting on her childhood, memories flooding back. It quickly progresses to stories of how she met her husband and the wedding that would inevitably happen. The moments are real and relatable, drawing the audience in to something they can know and understand – love and family.

Where the story goes from there, however, the audience may find themselves strangers in a new world of medical jargon and fear, as the main character Tricia is diagnosed with a highly aggressive form of breast cancer. As we see her first year coping and fighting the disease, your heart will break for her struggle, yet will find a warmth in the unrelenting hope her fight gives off.

When Tricia’s cancer metastasizes to her brain, and viewers are informed it is incurable, Love Always, Mom becomes a showcase of strength and resilience, Tricia taking each day with stride and rising above the statistics. She has set out every day to live life to the fullest, with one exception. Unable to have frozen her eggs at the time of diagnosis, Tricia is once again thrown the curveball of a lifetime, informed that she will never be able to bear children.

Facing a lifetime of cancer, an end that could come at any time, and an inability to pass on her legacy, Tricia makes the decision that nothing could be better in her final days, months or years than caring for a child. And so she and Greg begin a new fight, a new struggle and a new journey. Through angels, as they call them, Tricia and Greg are given the chance to start a family. Yet, as they already know all too well, life and the journey is not always easy.

Visionaries in Darkness

It is no surprise Love Always, Mom won for Best Documentary at this year’s Bentonville Film Festival. There is a truth that seeps from each frame and a hope for the future in the face of all adversity. Much of the early footage in the documentary is long before Tricia and Greg embark on their journey of family, showcasing the keen sight for subject matter and a willingness to be the subject of hope.

There is a true breath of freshness and reality within the film. Greg, you can clearly tell throughout the documentary, is camera shy and hesitant to share – that is until his child is born. Tricia, while afraid she may not be around by the time her son begins forming memories, had this documentary as a reminder and proof to build memories and pass on a legacy. It is raw and each character’s emotions are exposed to the core – a truth no script could have fully encapsulated.

Its only drawback is that Love Always, Mom feels long, which many viewers may find tedious. Yet, while you might find yourself longing for the conclusion to come more quickly, there is a symbolism to the length of time one is forced to endure, mimicking the amount of time that Tricia and Greg had to wait to reach their conclusion. You as a viewer are itching to reach the end and see the product of a culmination of hope and sacrifice, just as the characters on screen withstood in real life.

Angels with a Price Tag

Besides the length of Love Always, Mom, the only issue I truly had was the hope it delivered when accompanied by a price tag. While I acknowledge the message of hope the film tried to convey and  understand and do not want to negate the struggle and journey Tricia and her husband were on, there was an unnerving frustration financially.

Throughout the film, there are transitional moments when Tricia and Greg’s journey is pushed forward, white text on a black background filling in the gaps. Information was informative and emotional at times, even the moments when the contracted payments for the surrogate and the egg donor are revealed. As the payment information sets in, the realization becomes clear why so many do not follow down this path – it is too expensive.

With a presumed good salary between Greg (screenwriter) and Tricia (Film Executive) and the film opening with Tricia’s father revealing he works on Wall Street, many viewers will find in these moments of financially revealing transitions a disconnect with the film. There is a hope, a determination and a strength that clearly shines through, but in these moments, when the struggle is given a price tag, there is a feeling that surrogacy (payed $30,000) and egg donors (paid $10,000) are not an option many can even consider.

Now compound this with the added weight of Tricia’s medical bills, a new home they are revealed to have bought during their surrogate’s pregnancy, and travel expenses – the impossible seems just that.

Love Always, Mom: The Story Continues…

Every aspect of Love Always, Mom is a breath of hope. Tricia’s story and her battle, as well as the emotions and struggles of her husband and family, are more than one would think a person could take. But she survives, she fights through every obstacle thrown at her. She also fights back against infertility, making her dream of becoming a mother a truth.

While Love Always, Mom waves a large price tag in the eyes of its viewers, viewers will find themselves lost within the engrossing story of determination and will.

Have you seen Love Always, Mom? What are your thoughts on the options beyond our own fertility? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!

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