February 19, 2005
By Bob Cauttero, Ride for Life

I just had the great pleasure of watching "The Man Who Learned to Fall," a new documentary feature film about Philip Simmons, a New Hampshire teacher and writer who fought ALS for almost 10 years.

Before his death in 2002, Philip's final years and how he learned to accept his illness and enjoy life to the fullest is the focus of this very moving, enlightening, and entertaining film.

Although this film deals with such a grim disease as ALS, watching it is an uplifting experience. Philip had an incredible sense of humor and zest for life and it is well depicted by filmmakers Garry Beitel and Barry Lazar. To their credit the film is never depressing and remains true to Phillip's philosophy of "rescuing joy from heartbreak."

I can't stress enough that this is not just a film for people with ALS. Philip has much to teach everyone because sooner or later we all must learn how to fall.

I urge everyone to see The Man who Learned to Fall which is now available on DVD from www.themanwholearnedtofall.com

From "The Man Who Learned to Fall" web site:

The Man Who Learned to Fall is a feature documentary about a gifted writer and sought after teacher who celebrates the wonder of life even as he is slowly dying of a fatal neuromuscular condition. At the age of 35, Philip Simmons learned that he had ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease. Married, with two young children and a promising career as an English Professor and writer, he was told that he had less than five years to live.

Filmed in the foothills of the White Mountains of New Hampshire, this intimate portrait of Phil and his family captures the witty eloquence and poetic grace of a dying man and his heroic journey. As his muscles deteriorate and his body becomes increasingly paralyzed, Philip Simmons continues to “wrestle joy from heartbreak” – again and again and again – at each stage of his ongoing losses.

Although his illness eventually forced him to give up his University teaching, he continued to write and in August, 2000, he published Learning to Fall: the Blessings of an Imperfect Life, a book described by Rebecca Pepper Sinkler, former editor of The New York Times Book Review, as “a literary gem enlightening us about the deepest mysteries of life”

We meet Phil a year after the publication of his book which his publisher, Bantam Books feels "has the potential to be a spiritual classic". Although, he eloquently described ALS as “emptying me out one teaspoon at a time”, he also proclaimed that “a fuller consciousness of my own mortality has been my best guide to being more fully alive”. Phil Simmons outlived the medical predictions, and lived with his illness for almost ten years.