Fourteen years ago, Deborah Warden, MD, a neurologist and psychiatrist at Walter Reed Army Medical Center (since renamed the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center), began experiencing odd symptoms. Her right leg gave out one day when she was leaving work; while walking down the stairs, she had to look at her feet to make sure they were going where she wanted them to. Then she felt hip pain, which became knee pain. When the pain traveled down her leg, she visited an orthopedist who diagnosed bursitis. When the orthopedist later found overly active reflexes, he referred her to a neurologist.

The first neurologist ruled out a tumor in the brain or spine and did some blood tests. When all results were normal, he recommended watchful waiting. Uncomfortable with that, Dr. Warden sought out other neurologists for more testing. One by one, multiple sclerosis, autoimmune disorders, West Nile virus, Lyme disease, and other disorders were ruled out. Because of her symptoms of spasticity and weakness, some experts suspected amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). When no evidence of ALS was found on two electromyography tests, she was told it might be primary lateral sclerosis (PLS), a rare neuromuscular disease that like ALS causes spasticity and weakness of voluntary muscles. Since a PLS-like illness can convert to ALS even after three to five years of symptoms, Dr. Warden needed to wait another year before she was officially diagnosed with PLS. Unlike ALS, PLS progresses much more slowly and people can live with it for many years.

After 20 years at Walter Reed, where she specialized in traumatic brain injury, Dr. Warden retired in 2009 and began a new chapter: living with PLS. To get around her house and for shorter distances, she uses crutches. For longer hauls, she relies on a scooter-and pursues an equally full, but different, life. Instead of seeing patients, she teaches water yoga; instead of filling out clinical or insurance paperwork, she's part of a writing group.

She also recently teamed up with documentarian Bill Doorley to film Work in Progress: The Remarkable Journey of Dr. Warden. A five-minute excerpt of the film won the Grand Prize for the Neuroscience Is...™ Essential category in the American Academy of Neurology (AAN)'s 2017 Neuro Film Festival.

When she posted the excerpt on Facebook, she was touched by how many people commented and shared it with others. "I hope the film goes beyond PLS or any illness; that it speaks to whatever people are dealing with." One woman who was going through a divorce said it provided a new perspective for her: living with adversity rather than trying to avoid it, wish it away, or overcome it.

Doorley plans to use the $1,000 prize money to finish and expand the video and submit it to other festivals. "I don't usually use the phrase, 'labor of love,' but this really is. It's an important story that needs to be out there," he says.

For this year's Neuro Film Festival, the AAN created four new categories-Neuroscience Is...™ Rewarding, Essential, Critical, and Cool-designed for different groups, including graduate students, patients and caregivers, advocates, and young adults.

The winner of Neuroscience Is...™ Rewarding was Gianluca Di Maria, an Italian medical student whose video, The Brain Scientist, explores the connection between the neuroscientist in the lab and the neurologist in the clinic.

Meghan Tucker won in the category, Neuroscience Is...™ Critical, for her video about BethAnn Telford, a runner with brain cancer who ran seven marathons in seven days on seven continents to raise funds for research.

Nancy Khuc won the Neuroscience Is...™ Cool award for her documentary about her 90-year-old grandfather, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease four years ago. Although he can't remember his children's names or faces, he can recite Vietnamese poetry and proverbs "with fluency and grace." His selective memory fascinates his granddaughter, who strives to learn as much about the brain as she can.

To view all the entries, visit NeuroFilmFestival.com.