Sally Pacholok (born ca. 1970)

Sally Pacholok is a US movie that is based on a true story: the life and career of Nurse Sally Pacholok. It premiered in February 2015 at the Washington DC Independent Film Festival and was released on DVD in March 2016. Here is some basic information about it:

** Produced by Elissa Leonard and Jeremy Morrison
** Directed by Elissa Leonard
** Written by Elissa Leonard and Patrick Prentice
** Run time: 86 minutes

The cast includes the following:

** Annet Mahendru as Sally Pacholok – a hospital nurse

** Richard Pilcher as Andrew “Andy” Pacholok – Sally’s father

** Andrew Ballard as Dr Jeffrey Stuart

** Maboud Ebrahimzadeh as Dr Praveen Kumar

** Michael Gabel as the hospital administrator

** Bethany Hoffman as Jo – a hospital nurse

** Michael Mack as the hospital lawyer

** Bolton Marsh as Dr Brandt

** Harlan Workas Dr Faber

** Maria Broom as Dr Moran

** Stan Kang as Dr Lee (not identified by name)

** Ron Heneghan as Dr Bennett (not identified by name)

** Wes Johnson as Dr Dubrowski (not identified by name)

** Mark Ziv as Peter – a patient and a computer whiz

** Ali Elk as Peter’s mother

This movie is a (partial) biography of Sally Pacholok, who was born ca. 1970. It covers fifteen years of her life (1990-2005), because those years were a crucial time in her life. The story begins in 1990 when she is diagnosed with B12 deficiency, and ends in 2005 when her first book about this medical problem is published.

In 1990 Sally is working as a paramedic at an ambulance service. She is also studying to become a registered nurse. But she feels weak for no apparent reason. Fortunately, she is diagnosed with B12 deficiency, and this saves her life. Treatment of this problem is cheap and easy, once the correct diagnosis has been made.

Sally completes her education and begins working as a nurse at a hospital. While working as a nurse, she meets many patients who show the same symptoms as she had before. But when she suggests to the doctor in charge that the reason for these symptoms might be B12 deficiency, she is always brushed off.

After a while, she is called into the office of the hospital administrator who gives her the following message: “A nurse does not give medical advice to a doctor. It is the other way around.”

In spite of this warning, Sally embarks on a personal campaign about this issue. She is on a one-woman crusade and she refuses to give up, even though the doctors refuse to listen to her. Why is this case so important to her? Because B12 deficiency is lethal: it can kill a person, if it is not diagnosed in time.

After a while, she becomes known as “Sally B12.” This nickname is not a compliment; it is not a sign of respect. It is a sign of disrespect. In fact, many people around her think she is just ridiculous.

But Sally is good looking and sometimes she is asked out on a date. When this happens, she says: “I will go out with anyone, as long as he is not a doctor.” She follows this rule until she meets a doctor who takes her seriously: Dr Jeffrey Stuart, who is the son of one of her patients.

Jeff is so interested in Sally that he is ready to listen to her, and very soon he realises that she is right: there are in fact many medical cases where B12 deficiency is the answer. Jeff tells Sally that she should write a book about it and after a while she has completed a manuscript. The next step is to find a publisher who is ready to publish it.

Eventually, she gets a positive response, but the publisher has an important suggestion: she should team up with a doctor in order to give the book a solid medical foundation. She does not have to look very long to find one: the obvious choice is Jeff, who is her partner in life. They go over the manuscript together, and in 2005 the first edition of their book is published. This is where the story ends.

While this movie is based on a true story, it is not a documentary film. It is a dramatized version of events. Not everything happened exactly as portrayed in the movie. But the basic story-line is true, including the information about B12 deficiency.

An on-screen message at the end of the movie tells us that Sally and her father as well as Jeff and his mother are real persons, but all other characters in the movie are fictional characters, who were created for dramatic purposes.

As you can see, this movie is not only the story of Sally and her life, it is also the story of a serious medical issue that is often ignored: B12 deficiency. But if I say this is a movie about B12 deficiency, you might think it is a boring movie, and this is not the case. Therefore it is better to say that this is a movie about a nurse who dared to defy the medical establishment.

B12 deficiency is a serious issue. And this movie has a serious message. But it is not only a serious movie. There is also some humour in it. In fact, this movie has a good combination of funny and serious elements. This is one reason why it is a great movie.

What do reviewers say about it? On IMDb it has a rating of 84 per cent, which corresponds to four stars on Amazon. If you ask me, this average rating is too low. 

On the US version of Amazon there are eleven reviews of this product. The average rating is 4.8 stars.If you ask me, this average rating is much more appropriate. I want to go all the way to the top with this product. I think it deserves a rating of five stars.

PS # 1. Filmmaker Elissa Leonard became interested in the question of B12 deficiency many years ago. First, she made a 50 minute documentary film about it: Diagnosing and Treating Vitamin B12 Deficiency. It was released in 2011. It is available online, because she wants to spread the word about this issue as much as possible. Later she decided to make to make a movie about it. The movie was made in co-operation with Sally and Jeff.

PS # 2. At the end of the movie (during credit rolls) there are brief excerpts from the documentary film that was released in 2011. There is also a photo which shows four persons standing next to each other: on the right we have Annet Mahendry and Andrew Ballard, who play Sally and Jeff in the movie; on the left we have the real Sally and the real Jeff.

PS # 3. The following article is available online: Elissa Leonard, “Meet Sally Pacholok, the next Erin Brockowich,” Women in Film & Video, 20 March 2015.

PS # 4. A second edition of Sally and Jeff’s book was published in 2011: Could It Be B12? An Epidemic of Misdiagnoses. On Amazon UK there are more than 100 reviews of this product. The average rating is 4.8 stars, which is an unusually high rating for a medical textbook.

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Sally and Jeff have a website. Here is a link:

B12 Awareness

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Sally Pacholok and Jeffrey Stuart 

presenting their book about B12 deficiency: 

Could it be B12?

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 Sally Pacholok standing next to a poster for the movie about her life

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