Living on Parenteral Nutrition

Inspiring film about challenges and the power of positive thinking

Anthony Bauer is an inspiring young man who managed to keep his positive attitude despite hardships in his life. The young man, balancing skillfully a football on his head, appears to be nothing but an upbeat and active young person. But his path of life was far from regular and solely upbeat:  Anthony has relied on parenteral nutrition ever since he had to have surgery 14 years ago which removed major parts of his digestive tract – a necessary action to deal with a rare form of intestinal obstruction caused by a twisting of his intestine, a so-called volvulus.

Anthony’s life was saved that day by skillful Healthcare Professionals, but his life was also changed as he has since had to rely on machines to supply him with parenteral nutrition, perfectly dosed for his demand. In the last years, there have been improvements for him as he now only has to be attached to the life-saving devices for 12 hours per day – when he was younger, this procedure still took about 16 to 17 hours a day, limiting his daytime activities and social interactions. Even though he was not able to fulfill his childhood dream of becoming a professional soccer player, he has made it far in life already – while also being skillful on the soccer field.

In the following film, Anthony describes the hardships of the condition that influenced his life and how he continues to empower and support others who are in a similar situation.