Though fifteen years old, Darius Weems had never left his hometown of Athens, Georgia. Confined to a wheelchair, traveling was not easy for him. While watching an episode of the popular MTV show, Pimp My Ride, his close friend had an idea -- to extravagantly accessorize Darius' wheelchair, just as the demi-celebrities on the show "pimped out" their favorite cars with stereo systems, video game players, and hubcap spinners. Pimp My Ride is taped in Los Angeles, and would therefore require a journey out to California to try to get on the show. But Darius's friends promised to help him make the trip, and the odyssey began.
The result was Darius Goes West, a documentary film that Darius and his friends made as they traveled across the country to Los Angeles in a borrowed RV. Beginning at a summer camp for disabled children in Georgia, the film follows Darius as he explores parts of America that he has never seen, his eyes conveying a sense of wonderment as he experiences things for the very first time. A trip to the zoo, a ride in a hot air balloon, or looking out over the Grand Canyon are all equally foreign and exciting to him. The film's message is life-affirming, showing that whatever personal obstacles we face in our lives, we do not have to let them define us.
Darius Weems has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), a condition with a one hundred percent fatality rate. By the time they reach twelve years old, most DMD sufferers require a wheelchair. Causing respiratory failure, heart failure, and debilitating orthopedic complications, DMD takes the lives of young people in their late teens or early twenties. Darius' elder brother, who also suffered from DMD, died at the age of nineteen.
Many people have traveled out west to start over, and though Darius knows that his condition will soon cut short his own life, the trip has in some ways been a new beginning for him. It has also shown the promise for a new beginning to others living with disabilities - and the people around them - who have learned from Darius that even though their bodies have limitations, their lives need not. Though the television program ultimately declined to accessorize Darius' wheelchair, an Atlanta body shop outfitted his chair with everything he could possibly desire, and he showed up to the premiere of his documentary in style. Having run in twenty-four film festivals and garnered critical praise, Darius Goes West has raised over half a million dollars for the fight against DMD while imparting, as one reviewer put it, "the knowledge that life, even when imperfect, is always worth the ride."
To learn more about Darius Weems and his cause, and how you can make a difference, please visit: www.dariusgoeswest.com.
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