Mary & Martha tell Jo’s malaria fight
Brenda Blethyn and Hilary Swank in Mary and Martha
The powerful story of a Leighton woman who lost her son to a killer disease is the inspiration behind top film director Richard Curtis’s new movie, Mary & Martha, which premieres on the BBC on tonight.
The pan-American blockbuster features Oscar-winning Hollywood star Hilary Swank and Britain’s own Brenda Blethyn and features and international cast.
Blethyn plays Martha who is based on Jo Yirrell, of Albany Road, whose son Harry, 20, died from malaria while he was out doing voluntary work in Africa.
In 2005 Harry had been helping build a school in Ghana when he gave away his anti-malaria tablets to children.
He later returned to Leighton, fell sick and died 10 days later.
Since then Jo, who works at Vandyke Upper School, has worked tirelessly to raise the profile of Malaria No More UK campaign, a charity that works tirelessly to save lives from malaria, one of the world’s biggest, preventable killer diseases.
The LBO highlighted Jo’s story and it came to the attention of Curtis, famous for Love Actually.
He already had an idea for a film but re-wrote one of the characters to tell Jo’s story.
“They sent me a copy of the film to watch before the official screening and I had to do it in sections. It was very emotional and brought back a lot of memories.
“There’s a lot of my personality in Martha. She wants to cut through the red tape and make things happen.
“This campaign is about people not policies. No mother should lose a child to something that can be cured.
“If everyone gave just £7.80 they could save five people.”We are at a pivotal point in the fight against malaria. We are able to change history and see an end to this disease in our lifetime. That would be a wonderful monument to my son.”
For more information about the charity visit www.malarianomore.org.uk
The programme is on BBC1 at 8.30pm.
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Friday 24 May 2013
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