A Fulham fan passes away...

[Tktd]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b012p4v6/Alex_A_Life_Fast_Forward/

Gave life a full workout though... really sobering and inspiring stuff.

All the best to his family at this time.

[finnster01]

Not available in the US.

Any help?

[Tktd]

Not available in the US.

Any help?

Sorry, has only just come out in the UK!...

About a guy called Alex Lewis - was 22 and his dad and him were Fulham fans - from what I could tell sat in the Stevenage Road stand near hammersmith end... he unfortunately contracted cancer 3 years or so ago and this is a documentary on him and his attitude to life in his final years. Very good watch and seemed like a very solid a fun character - Highly reccomend watching - even if you think you don't have the time to... Thoughts with his family as the programme has just been aired in the last couple of days - they should be extremely proud of him.

[The Bronsons]

I live up the road from Alex's family. I didn't know him personally but my wife tells me he did some tennis coaching for our son about five or six years ago, and was a lovely guy and really nice to the younger kids. Had no idea until now that he was also a Fulham fan.

[Burt]

It has been a long time since I saw anything with such a mix of inspiration and sadness to it.

Amazing.

[Logicalman]

V review: Alex: A Life Fast Forward; Art of Survival

Alex is 21 and dying. But watching his amazing attitude to life is inspirational





In anyone else, Alex Lewis's positivity might get tiring. In him it's extraordinary. Alex – subject of Alex: A Life Fast Forward (BBC3) – has bone cancer. At 21 he is dying. He doesn't shy away from this, casually chats away over an ice-lolly in the garden about wanting to be cremated and have his ashes scattered at Craven Cottage. But God does he make the most of what time he has.

To begin with this means living out a kind of Pepsi Max dream – skydiving, dune-buggying, tombstoning, breaking keepy-uppy records, dancing, frolicking, always surrounded by lovely, happy, beautiful friends. When he wakes up in the morning he thinks: "What am I doing today? Oh I'm having a good day." And if he's having radiotherapy that day, well at least it's not chemotherapy, that's a lot worse.

A family friend, a doctor, puts it nicely. "He doesn't feel he needs to live it as an illness, he needs to live the wellness of his life," he says. "You know the glass is half full as opposed to half empty. And I think he sees his as not just half full but actually there's something that makes it bubble up a bit more, it's got a bit of froth on the top as well."

Everything Alex does he does with a huge, winning smile. He smiles with his whole face, especially his eyes.

Can that really be morphine he's taking? Or is there a whole lot of MDMA in there as well? And then Ali shows up on the scene. Sweet, strong, lovely Ali. They have a snog, something clicks, Alex realises that he wants to spend the rest of his life – what little there is left of it – with Ali. The title of this film might be slightly awkward but that's how it is, Alex's life is on fast forward; it's all there, just quicker. They fall in love and get engaged, which is both brilliant and very sad, because now someone else is going to have a big hole in their life when Alex dies. And from this point the lump in my throat, which has been coming and going, is there to stay. By the end – with Alex's rapid deterioration, the wedding rushed forward, a beautiful groom's speech (recorded because Alex is now too weak to speak), the inevitable postscript – I'm a gibbering wreck.

But – and this will sound absurdly soppy and corny of course – this is an uplifting film as well as a very sad one. It's beautifully done, intimate without being intrusive, and seems to be a good idea – maybe even focusing – for Alex and his family as well as for the viewer. Inspirational too, and that's because of Alex's amazing attitude. Perhaps, given that we're all dying, just at different rates, we could all do with a bit of Alexness. I'm going to give it a go. So I've got the dentist tomorrow; but I'm thinking, brilliant, at least it's not the electric chair. Then I'll probably do a bungee jump and get engaged. Well, a bungee jump anyway . . .

In Art of Survival (Sky Arts) four young artists – a couple of cellists, a soprano and a portrait painter – have to get from Athens to Edinburgh (Athens of the north, see?) using only their talents to get by. They are in teams of two, it is a competition and a race, they have to raise as much money as possible – busking, scamming, hitch-hiking. A cello isn't the easiest instrument to hitchhike with. Come on though, don't forget Alex, at least it's not a grand piano.

Loyal Sky Arts viewers – all 17 of them – may disapprove. What's going on? This has nothing to do with art, it's reality TV, a plunge downmarket in search of number 18 and more. It's fun though – a nice mix of Bach and bickering, with the Parthenon or the Ionian Sea as a backdrop. And anyone still worried that they are watching rubbish can perhaps persuade themselves that it throws up some interesting questions about the value of art. I certainly feel sorry for the poor Dante, the Greek restaurant owner who forks out £800 for a piece it took Johan about 11 seconds to paint. Abstract, Johan calls it. My four-year-old niece has a similar style, and hers go for much less than that – around the £600 mark, even less for a bulk purchase. I don't know if Dante's reading, but, if so, please do get in touch, and maybe we can work something out

[NogoodBoyo]

Thansk Tktd.  If anybody in the USA sees it coming up on BBC America, please shout out.  I'd love to see it.
Nogood "inspirational, itis" Boyo

[TheDaddy]

Tktd thanks for posting watched it through out lump in my throat and a tear in my eye.Mum has gone quite here but things like this get us talking about the future with Baby Grace.We tend to take a day at a time never really worring about whats round the corner the good days are great the bad days are great thats the way it is in our household positive mental attitude.

Thank you Alex for sharing ......

[maksimir]

RIP.  Did'nt know him but that is a savage age for someone to die.

[Logicalman]

Thansk Tktd.  If anybody in the USA sees it coming up on BBC America, please shout out.  I'd love to see it.
Nogood "inspirational, itis" Boyo

This is now available worldwide via  TheBox

[FFCcravencottage]

For all those outside the UK (or in the UK) that doesn't use torrent sites (ie: The Box, which is where I downloaded the file), I have uploaded this programe to my filesharing site.
Just click on the link to download the file.
http://www.filedropper.com/alexalifefastforward

[Logicalman]

For all those outside the UK (or in the UK) that doesn't use torrent sites (ie: The Box, which is where I downloaded the file), I have uploaded this programe to my filesharing site.
Just click on the link to download the file.
http://www.filedropper.com/alexalifefastforward

Thanks FFC for those without BT.

THIS is the person, along with those in Norway, that we should mourn the loss of. A fighter and truly brave lad, and one of our very own.

[Lighthouse]

I am going to be pedantic here. The young Fulham fan who was diagnosed with Cancer should not be mourned. He should be celebrated. He knew his end was in sight, he and his family had the money to enjoy the last year as best as they could. He had friends who enjoyed his life with him. He had the bottle to go out and live his life instead of feeling sorry for himself.

His family should take any sympathy we have, I thought sister and Mum were especially honest and inspiring.

Those killed and hurt in Norway had no such chance to enjoy the last days.

So we should celebrate the human spirit in one story and mourn for it in the other.

[OtterFFC]

Very sad, but I am glad I watched it.  None of us know how we would react when served with a cancer death sentence, especially in my case as I have a 4 year old daughter.  I was so inspired by Alex's oultook on his last few months, so postive and strong . . RIP. 

[Jonno]

he was a brave lad thats for sure - a very emotional story.

[Woolfy]

What a tragic loss of a young life. A really moving documentary, thanks for sharing.

[bog]

What a tragedy. RIP. Sympathys to his family.