Lessons from the Sunflower

The TELUS original Documentary Lessons from the Sunflower

A short synopsis of the film from the producer and director Ava Karvonen, Reel Girls Media Inc.

TELUS is supporting the production of a feature length documentary film that tells the story of Steven Csorba and his wellness journey.

The theme of the film focuses on how Steven was able to overcome cancer and found some beauty in the struggle, which helped him to grow resilience in the community and inspire others to explore their own elevated journey of wellness.

Steven opens up about the tragic loss of his mother from brain cancer when he was 16 and she was 37, to later on being diagnosed cancer himself in 2003 when he had just turned 38. He was flying high as a well-paid, award-winning corporate communications consultant and brand strategist when he learned he had head and neck throat cancer.

Radical surgery saved his life, but dramatically altered his facial appearance. He had to relearn how to speak and swallow.  He endured numerous reconstructive procedures and years of recovery and rehab, living with the fear of cancer returning due to numerous radiation treatments.

Unable to work and with three young sons facing a possible future without him, Csorba felt himself sliding into despair. Then he remembered something his mother had told to him shortly before she died of cancer at the same age he was diagnosed. She said that “helping others is the key to finding real meaning and purpose in one’s life”.

Taking his mother’s advice to heart, Csorba resolved to use his personal experience with cancer, the insights and knowledge he’d acquired as a professional communicator, and his creative gifts as a graphic designer and visual artist to support and mentor others going through serious illness and difficult healing journeys.

Steven used pre-habilatative medicine to improve his cancer outcomes as well as to model a better path of recovery for others, which led to his inspired community building and wellness advocacy work.

This work included the building of a new home for inner city traumatized youth at iHuman and his newest project “PEPY in the Classroom” where he’s now working in partnership with schools to teach empowerment and prevention based wellness as a life skill for kids K-12.

PEPYs empowerment health model uses an innovative approach to wellness where an investment and focus on building resilience and well-being is proactive as compared to the current reactive model.  It’s a system built on a belief that wellness is the state of the best possible spiritual, social and physical health.

Imagine if our children grew up believing our healthcare system was designed to empower us first, helps prevent illness second and is always there to help us when we get hurt or get sick.

The film also weaves in Steven’s love of art and nature and shows how he adopted the sunflower as a symbol of adaptability and resilience in the face of great challenges.  The lessons of resilience from the sunflowers are both powerful and unique. A shift in what resilience truly means.

These three sunflower lessons are woven into the film a subtle way.

• Lesson One: Accept that fact that life is never a straight line.

• Lesson Two: Turn Constraints Into Something Beautiful.

• Lesson Three: Wellness is a Journey. Rise together in that journey

The film also provides some insight into Steven’s passion for high performance movement and fitness. There have been several sessions that captured his training protocol including his love of a challenge, i.e. meaning running a lot of stairs, something he’s says is a form of meditation for him. 

Steven also shares his approach to achieving wellness by dynamical balancing spiritual, social and physical health as a measure to protect his mental health.

His approach helps him to build proactive resilience as well a huge bank account of energy that he uses to help others and to pursue projects that will help make some positive change for the world.