Source: Fraser Sherman
"Being told at 24 that he’d never walk again changed the shape of Florida filmmaker Brian Dery’s dreams.
Dery recovered from his paralysis, which was brought on by the Guillain-Bare virus, but instead of resuming his plan of heading to Hollywood, he created a Florida company, Triple Knot Productions, devoted to documentaries about disabled individuals.
“Going The Distance,” a documentary about quadriplegic Destin resident Charlie Ekizian, will premiere at the Emerald Coast Conference Center on Friday.
“My claim to fame is that I’ve been 40 years in a wheelchair as a quadriplegic without being (institutionalized),” Ekizian told The Log. “A lot of that is because of activities.”
Ekizian also discovered that while people stood ready to provide activities and support to children with spinal injuries, there was little support available for men 15 to 25 years old, whose lifestyle has a much higher risk of injury.
To change that, he and his wife Danielle founded the Wheelchair Sports and Recreation Association to give people with spinal cord injuries and similar disabilities a way to keep experiencing sports, recreation and life.
Not only is living in the community healthier for individuals, Ekizian said, it’s less of a financial cost to society than warehousing them in nursing homes.
“The idea is, you try to help someone, they try to help you, help the next guy down the line,” Ekizian said. “If you can get them active and doing something they didn’t think they can do, like say, take them kayaking ... They might go on and say let me go back to school, let me go back to work.
WANT TO WATCH“Going The Distance” will be shown 6:30 p.m. Nov. 21 at the Emerald Coast Conference Center.
Here's the trailer
