Questions on HBO's "On Freddie Roach": Did the HBO film crew do anything for Pepper Roach when he was having a stroke?
By Rich Mazon
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 29 Jan 2012
I love HBO's reality series and documentaries, especially their sports stories. And top on my list is one that pertains to the sport that I love, boxing. I adore their 24/7 series that preludes big boxing events where they follow both fighters in the weeks and days leading to fight night. Their effective story telling on their documentaries is a joy to watch. I look forward to watching it every time they come up with one, especially about boxing.
HBO Boxing opened 2012 with a reality series not about an upcoming mega pay per view event. In fact they did not open the year with an actual boxing event. Their very first boxing show of the year will be next week's World Championship Boxing series in San Antonio. They opened the year with a prime time series about one of boxing's great trainer in Freddie Roach. The six episode series entitled "On Freddie Roach" is an in-depth look of his life in and out of the ring and the gym. It aired it's first episode last week which I think was superbly done. I actually watched it a couple of times through its reruns and via the On Demand feature of my cable provider. I was very much looking forward to watching its second episode that I was settled down in my couch in my living room way ahead of it's nine thirty showing last night.
There was less focus on Roach on this particular episode and the struggles that he goes to everyday battling Parkinson's disease. It focused though on a different disease, and not that of Freddie but that of his older brother Pepper. And the disease was stroke. This episode showed Pepper suffering a stroke or what we call in the medical field as a "brain attack" in the compound where the Wild Card Gym is located.
The scene where Pepper was having a stroke was very moving. This is after they showed him doing the mitts against what looks like a heavyweight boxer. The cameras of HBO and director Peter Berg are actually filming a medical drama happening. A few minutes after watching this very emotional episode, it hit me. This is an actual health emergency and the film crews are not doing anything but continue filming it as it happens. They show a pair of Spanish speaking guys attending to Pepper as he sat on a bench experiencing this debilitating disease. One of them is even offering him soda, which is a no-no on this case. The cameras followed the event as it unfolded on that day. They showed how Freddie and his assistant Shane Langford attend to Pepper in the best way they can. But the best way to attend to this emergency is what Langford did, call for medical help.
There is one thing that has been bothering me that it is costing me a good night sleep tonight. And I tried to second guess it but it still would not put my restlessness to rest. Why are the HBO crew not helping Pepper? Why are they just filming this real life emergency and not attending to him? Why aren't they calling 911 themselves and get Pepper the immediate medical attention he badly needed that day? Why don't they drop their equipments or ask someone in their staff to help Pepper. Because it looked like they were the first one on the scene when this happened. Isn't that the right thing to do on this particular case?
Time is of the essence in the treatment of stroke. The Center for Disease Control or CDC recommends that we act fast once we see someone suffering the symptoms of stroke. They clearly advise to call 911 immediately. Patients who get immediate treatment and intervention have lower risk of disability and death. And in this case clearly calls for immediate medical response. I give them the benefit of the doubt because unlike people in the medical field the HBO film crew at that time may not be aware of the medical emergency that is going on in front of their eyes. But there is no doubt that there is an emergency that is happening right then and there, and I think that they should have done more than just continue filming it.
I again give them the benefit of the doubt because I was not present when this thing happened. They might have initiated or done something to help Pepper. One that was not shown to us in this particular episode. Maybe it was them who initiated the 911 call themselves and they did not just keep the camera rolling so that they won't miss a thing while this happens. Maybe they attended to Pepper during this very stressful time and not leave him in the hands of bystanders in the nearby Laundromat. Maybe just maybe they actually helped him and all of that was shown was just a product of editing and acting like when Langford made the 911 call after considerable time has elapsed. Or maybe, this was just a re-enactment of what transpired and not the actual thing itself. I sure hope so that that is the case.
Everything takes a back seat when someone is in danger or at risk of any kind. There is no other course of action but to drop whatever you are doing and help that someone. No job takes more importance than helping someone in need of assistance. Everything else takes a back seat. Whoever you are, wherever you are and whoever that person that needs assistance might be It is just the right thing to do. Right? I am hoping that maybe someone in HBO will read this and enlighten me and the viewers of this great show about what really happened. I am hoping that I am wrong and that my worries were unfounded. Again, I give them the benefit of the doubt, mine are just questions at this time. Hopefully my concerns are not valid and that I am just too "clinical" for this show.
Please email Rich Mazon at rrmaze24@aol.com for any reactions to this piece.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Rich Mazon .
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