Darius Goes West

Listening to Cort & Fatboy a few months ago, David Walker spoke about a fundraiser for DMD. I participated, and they were kind enough to send me a copy of the documentary Darius Goes West. I remembered hearing about this film at Tribeca Film Festival a few years ago, but had not had a chance to see it. Beautifully shot and incredibly inspiring, this documentary addresses disability, dreams and friendship. Darius' friends loaded him and his wheelchair into an RV, and headed to the west coast. They took him in the ocean, rafting, tattoo parlor, hot air ballooning, the best friends I've ever seen. The film is punctuated with raps that provided great insight to Darius and his feelings. A beautiful film, a story of friendship, a story of awareness. The image that stays with me the most is Darius' smile. The issue of mobility and wheelchair accessibility is interesting and eye opening. The awareness issue is very important. Darius is a brave young man, with a degenerative disease, that wanted to raise awareness to disabilities, but most of all, quality of life. This trip was not intended to save him, but to enhance to his life. I love that his dream chair had a cell phone so he could "holla up the ladies" and spinners!! Full Effects was amazing. This film is amazing and inspiring. Well done and thank you. Let's keep the awareness alive and fight DMD.