Touching documentary educates students on MD

Darius Weems rolled out of Athens, Ga. for the first time in his fifteen years of life in the summer of 2005 with the help of his 11 best friends, a wheelchair and a video camera. Their goal: to make it to California and show Weems’ wheelchair on MTV’s show “Pimp My Ride.”

Both the senior and junior special education GCSU cohorts attended the showing of the “Darius Goes West” film along with Weems and his crew in Arts and Sciences auditorium Friday, Jan. 16.

Weems is afflicted with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a disease affecting one in 3,500 males. Duchenne muscular dystrophy is one of nine types of MD. The cause is an absence of dystrophin and is diagnosed in children between the ages of two and six who have problems walking, have weakening muscles and have enlarged calves. By the age of ten, Duchenne restricts its victims to a wheelchair.

Since the journey, “Darius Goes West,” has sold thousands of copies. The film is made up of clips from the road. The goal of the group this year is to sell one million DVDs. All of the proceeds go to benefit DMD research.

“We saw how much the film affected MD,” Weems said.
John Harmon, one of the members of Weem’s team, was previously a part of GCSU’s special education cohort and will be enrolled again in the fall of 2009. He took the past year off to travel with the Darius Goes West group.

“Seeing this group work so hard to raise money for this disease is really inspiring for all the special education cohort,” said Lauren Hyman, special education major. “It makes us feel like we can do have the same impact on the kids we’re teaching in our placements and the kids we’ll work with after we graduate.”

The film has won many awards including the Audience Choice Award in the Atlanta Film Festival, Best Documentary in the Oxford Film Festival and the Best Documentary in the Longbaugh Film Festival, along with more than ten others.

Weem’s brother, Mario, died of DMD at 19. Both of the boys along with the 11 males in the film, attended Project REACH, a summer camp provided by Volunteer Services in Athens. Mario asked Logan to watch out for Darius, which lead to the group of 11 forming such a close bond.

DVDs are being distributed internationally to countries such as France, Greece, England, South Korea and Iran. Through these sales and other contributions, the group has raised two million dollars since the trip.

To help out with the Weem’s efforts to make the world more aware of DMD, visit www.dariusgoeswest.com to buy memorabilia, to donate or to learn more.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Jan 23 2009. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry