I'm Brianna Couture

Brianna,
I love your video! It captures your spirit so well, and really gets your message across.
Love you
Vickie

This pod cast is powerful in the message it delivers. It is informative about the Mitochondrial disease and the performance by these young women presents a clear example that you do not have to look or act sick to disserve the rights afforded to the disabled. The Brianna' are correct; I cannot imagine having to deal with the types of physical demands this disease has on the body. I do know one thing for sure; I am not as active or capable as Brianna is in her activities! My hat is off to you and yours. I hope you will continue to get word out about Mitochondrial disease and some day soon they will kick its butt!
Best regards,
Marxan

Brianna, I love your story!!! It rocks!!! As a person with a disease myself, I know exactly where you are coming from. As long as there are people like you in this world out there fighting the good fight, we will at the very least ,have hope.
Thank you,
Dan

Brianna,
You could not have portrayed your disease any better if you tried! I think that the entire Central school body would finally have a btter understanding of your condition. Ignorance might be at an all time low if others had the chance to walk through life in your shoes!
I Love you,
Sammy

Brianna,
You did a great job with that! It means a lot to people like my brother and I who also suffer from another form of Muscular Dystrophy.
Albert

Hi Brianna! This is Bill, Sam's brother. She has told me about how hard it has been for you in the past. I hope it helps get the message across to others!
Good luck!
Bill

Dear Brianna,
As a Mother of two handicapped children, I would like to say that what you are doing is amazing! It takes a lot of courage to get out there and tell your story!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Shlosser

enter your post hereBrianna,
You are truly an inspiration as is your mom and brother. I am blessed to know all of you. May God bless your lives richly. And I hope yopu win this Pod cast

Brianna,

I am the mother of a child who also has mito. THANK YOU for giving awareness and hopefully more understanding to this little known disease. My daughter, like you, "looks great" but suffers in many different ways from the disease. I hope your current struggles are not great ones and that this wonderful video gets the attention it deserves.

My deepest admiration,
Meagan

P.S. my daughter's caringbridge page: www.caringbridge.com/ky/sophiesong

Great video Brianna! Way to go! I am a pediatric nurse (working toward my PNP at the University of Rochester) and worked for about 7 years with a client that was diagnosed in the late 80s with a "mitochondrial cell dysfucntion". He turned 21 last March! ;o) It always amazed me when an adult would approach us and ask in a hushed whisper, "What's wrong with him?" I'll admit he does use a wheelchair, however, his ears work just fine! Part of me always wanted to reply, "Not a thing, but what is wrong with YOU?" but I never could be so crude. I am forwarding this to others in the health field. Keep up the good work, and have fun in that new dance class! Tamera

I love this so much
now from watching this it really helps me understand it more than i did
I love how happy you are even when times are bad
nothing like me
hope to see you soon honey
Love You,
Sara <3

I love this so much
now from watching this it really helps me understand it more than i did
I love how happy you are even when times are bad
nothing like me
hope to see you soon honey
Love You,
Sara <3

Brianna,
Having met you only once, I cannot say I know you very well, but I do know Sam and that she loves making a difference in people's lives. You sound like a very strong girl, fighting for a change in the world, even bigger than the ones we strive for. What an inspiring and encouraing video to do just that! It's something to be proud of and I hope that it makes it on t.v. because I think it will help make people realize more about diseases like yours. Good luck! :)
<3 Janeen

Brianna,
Your video is SO necessary. It is Mito Awareness Week in Massachusetts (Oct 1st through the 8th), but most people still have NO CLUE. Like you, my son looks fairly normal, and it has become an ongoing struggle for family, teachers, doctors!, caregivers etc. to understand the severity if this disease. I commend you for the making of this video and wish you the best.
Gwen

Brianna,
Very impressive video!!! You are very creative, obviously VERY smart and it's a great thing for everyone in your position that you are such an insiring advocate. I personally would be thrilled to see you get on current T. V. I've never seen it, but because of your video I certainly will look into it ! Awesome job. Will the real Brianna Couture please take a bow !
Patty LaPorte :)

yOU ARE AWESOME. GOOD LUCK AND YOU HAVE ALL MY SUPPORT!!!!!
KELLIE

It's funny how u take so many of lifes greatest joys for granted. This video has really given me a whole new respect for life and for a disease that until now, i never knew anything about.
kenny

Nice film. A stylistic and cretive approach that really makes your point very effectively.

Hey Brie,
I can't say how proud I am of you for working on this project. I am showing it to all my friends up here at RIT. Nicco P. was so funny. I loved how you had 3 Brianna's. I also loved the elevator and HP parking part. So true...just happened to me...again...2 days ago.

Brett Couture

Dear Brianna,
What a great job! Who IS the real you anyway? I'm really proud of all you do!
Best of luck going national! You're a real trouper!
Bettie

Brianna,
I heard about your video through a yahoo mito group. It's great. My 22 year old son suffers from mito also and life is a daily struggle. The comment about using the handicapped space is soooo true. Keep up the good work.

Kim

Hi Brianna
I think you summed it up exceptionally well. Wish you all the best from Australia and I hope you get the message on TV as their is still a lot of stigma against disablity out there and what it should look like not actually what it is

Karen

Hi Brianna,
You are a true inspiration. You have made my day, and given me hope that my 4 1/2 year old son with Mitochondrial disease will grow up and have an amazing attitude like you do. Thank you, and best of luck in everything you do. You should be very proud!!!
Kristin Murray

Brianna

My son, Andrew, died age the age of six, from Mito in 2003. He was everyone's cheerleader and I am confident he is cheering you on now! You go girl! I hope you get a zillion votes!

deb

This type of media is so effective because a picture does tell a thousand words. This issue is so important because the producer was able to present the subject matter of invisible disabilities in such a way that individuals and their families suffering from other invisible disabilities,( like chronic fatigue, diabetes, learning disabilities, arthritis, deafness, fibromyalgia and multiple sclerosis as a few examples) can see themselves reflected in her story.

I was really surprised at the statistics on "invisible" disabilities, clearly much more needs to done to increase awareness. I applaud this producer and Brianna and Co for challenging people to not judge a book by its cover. I know I will not be assuming I know anything about the path that others are walking,

The doses of humor throughout the pod allows people to feel comfortable in examining their own perception and views about such things as handicap parking and to not feel ashamed/embarrassed of their own biases and thus becoming resistant to challenging their own perceptions.

I love the concept and presentation of the pod. It was beautifully edited and really kept me guessing as to who was the "real" Brianna. I guessed wrong!!

Brilliant!