MovieChat Forums > The Heart of Christmas (2011) Discussion > This movie isn't an 'late night infomerc...

This movie isn't an 'late night infomercial' is honest + true

posted 11 years ago by smcbee27
5 replies | jump to latest

I must rebut the user review that said this was just another St. Jude infomercial. I know from those words that person has never experienced the life of a child with cancer. They should be thankful! This true story of Dax Locke is very accurate in it's portrayal of a family dealing with life once their child is diagnosed with cancer. I was blessed to know such a beautiful child. Until you go to St Jude and experience all the staff first hand you cannot understand how they are so compassionate & become a part of your family. The parents do look out for each other & the bond is unbreakable between them all. Caringbridge, where most journals are kept is simply wonderful & it's free. It's run on donations from people like us. While there a professional photographer donated his services & took gorgeous pictures of the siblings together that will be cherished for generations. One story: My little friend loved to pass his painful nights being driven around in his little car. Once he was on continuous oxygen they couldn't allow him to put his tank in the car as it could be dangerous. They were heartbroken. The next morning they wake to find that the maintenance staff had welded a tank carrier to the back of the little car! Acts such as these cannot be made up.
I liked in the movie how the character of Meg is changed by reading Dax's story. That resonated with me personally. Being friends of a family going through this can change your outlook on life! I finally woke up to my own life through our friends wonderful baby. Not because of death & dying but because he lived each day so beautifully you couldn't help but want to do the same!!
I invite you to look up Dax Locke's story online everywhere from YouTube to Facebook. There's even a foundation in Dax's name. The story is heartbreaking while being heartfilling at the same moment. This movie touches many aspects, even waters it down because the real story of cancer is too hard for most to comprehend, the staff at St Jude to marvelous to believe!
Most kids at St. Jude get to walk out the front door with their healthy child. My friend carried his son out in his arms because he said he walked him in that way at 3 months old & he had to finish the journey he started 15 months before. Like Dax he wasn't one of the 96% that goes home health. My friend still visits St. Jude, has lunch with doctors, raises money for the hospital in his son's name & is even asked to come in & sit with parents and he's there in a flash! The movie wasn't an infomercial but the truth of the hardships & beauty found in the hearts of these families.
Please search "lanterns for Lily" on YouTube if you'd like to answer the small request of the Anderson family by lighting 11 lanterns for Lily until Christmas.Then post your picture or video on her facebook page for this beautiful girl whose relapsed & needs to know many people are sending their best wishes to her!
A qoute from Dax's mom's journal the night he died.
"Death is not the extinguishing of the light it's putting out the lamp because dawn has finally come."

[–] jalapenoman 11 years ago

As a parent who lost a child, I can tell you that many of the feelings of the movie are honest and true.

All of the parents in a hospital setting will come together. You become friends and will cheer the triumphs together and cry as one at the tragedies and losses. This is done with true feeling and not with any jealousy.

You also learn who your true friends are among relatives, neighbors, and coworkers as many people are willing to provide any kind of support they can.

My child was not at St. Jude's. We were at University Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas back in 1994. The staff there was incredible. The E.C.I. (Early Childhood Intervention) progran sponsored by the state was also fantastic.

My daughter passed away at the tender age of 10 1/2 months. Incredible as it may seem, her hospital time provided some of my fondest memories of her life.

This movie brought back many of the emotions and tears that I experienced back then. It is well done and I recommend it to others. The film can help you to see what we actually go through when our children are sick and dying.

Proudly defending films older than Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, and Miley Cyrus.

[–] seamonkey-fan 11 years ago

Thank you for your honesty in your post and sharing with us your experience with childhood cancer. As I said in my earlier post I haven't felt the loss of my own child to cancer so I cannot say "I know". Watching our dear friends go through their great loss is the closest we've been. I want to express my sympathy for your loss of your beautiful daughter. Along with my continued support for not just battling childhood cancers but for hospitals to be a "home" for each family.
We had always supported St Jude as growing up here gives some a sense of responsibility. However, It wasn't until our "buddy's" struggle that I came to understand better the story of childhood cancers. I'm glad you found the hospital in SA to be the same close knit family that we found here.
This isn't a story about St. Jude. It's a story about the Locke family and childhood cancer that happens to be treated at St. Jude. The Heart of Christmas can be bought at the St. Jude gift store but it's not an "infomercial". Even if it was, the story is well done and speaks the truth. Even the mention of journaling on the Internet touched home as Caringbridge became the daily stop for us all while allowing the parents quite time with their baby. The fact that you found those moments to be some of your fondest with your baby girl says so much about the environment these hospitals attempt to establish. The parent bedroom attached to the child's room, the small dinners that are free, the excellent support they give to siblings as well as the child amazed me and gave me a renewed sense of what our bits of money can be used for. This movie just rang true everywhere the story took me. I appreciate that along with the Locke's for sharing their story.

Thank you again, Jalapenoman, for your honest words about your own experience. I wish you and your family all the best.
(I also appreciate your fondness for "older" movies. I'm a classic movie watcher myself.)

[–] suzan28 11 years ago

i thinhk that it was on for us here in canada, and i meant to watch it....or maybe it was another one......

susna

[–] ldddhunter 11 years ago

i agree w/your whole post it was fantastic - i don't think anyone could've said it better than the way you have said it !! Kudos to you - thanks !!

[–] johnc-4 8 years ago

I liked the movie. And yes, it was sad that Dax did not survive, but that part was true. Also there is a lot of good in how the affected families interacted as well as the effect on the Walshes upon reading Dax's story.

But one glaring discrepancy that I do not understand. At the end, we are shown Dax's dates as 2007 to 2009. And I looked this up, born June 26 2007 and died December 30 2009.

So why are we told, as Megan begins reading Julie's blog that "after his 3rd birthday he began to get sick." And treatment went on for 18 months before the Christmas at Halloween scene that starts the early part of the movie? This would have made him over 4 1/2 years old at the time of the early Christmas. Yet he really only lived to about 2 1/2 years old.

Why did the people involved in telling a "true story" feel they had to change his age?