Darius Goes West

Darius Goes West The Roll of his Life is a documentary by Logan Smalley about Darius Weems, a teenager living with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. In the middle of 2005 Weems embarked on a 7,000 mile road trip across the United States from his hometown in Georgia to MTV Headquarters in Los Angeles to ask them to customize his wheelchair on Pimp My Ride, as well to promote awareness of the fatal disease Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and to raise money for research into a cure.

After reading a copy of a letter Darius had sent to MTVs show Pimp My Ride in which he asked them to consider refurbishing his wheelchair, Smalley organized a crosscountry trip for Darius to Los Angeles, which became known as the Darius Goes West Project. After having previously been to the Cannes Film Festival, Smalley recognized the opportunity and importance of documenting the trip. The 7,000 mile, 25day trip resulted in 300 hours of video.According to DVD Talk, including Weems, over half of the documentary team was under the age of 20, including Smalleys younger brother Ben, 18. The oldest person on the crew was Daniel Epting, 24. The group not only handled the camera and sound equipment, they cared for Weems, helping him with daytoday tasks like using the bathroom. ........

Source: Wikipedia