[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 11435]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            DARIUS GOES WEST

  (Mr. BARROW asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. BARROW. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a special 
group of young men who are making a difference by drawing attention to 
Duchenne muscular dystrophy. DMD, which is usually detected in small 
children, is a debilitating and ultimately fatal affliction, usually 
taking its victims' lives in their early 20s.
  Darius Weems was diagnosed with DMD as a small child, and he will be 
19 years old later this year. His brother, Mario, died at that age from 
the same disease.
  Because of his condition, Darius never left his hometown of Athens, 
Georgia, for the first 15 years of his life. But just before Darius' 
brother, Mario, died, Mario's friend, Logan Smalley, made a promise to 
Mario to look after Darius when Mario died. After Mario died, Logan did 
more than that; he made Darius a star.
  Four years ago, Logan Smalley and 10 other college friends decided to 
take Darius on a road trip from Athens, Georgia, to Los Angeles, 
California. Along the way, they met people who shared Darius' illness, 
and they documented handicap accessibility throughout the country. 
Logan directed a documentary film of that trip, ``Darius Goes West,'' 
starring Darius and the rest of the crew.
  Today that documentary is on track to sell 1 million copies, with the 
lion's share of profits going to fight DMD. I'm pleased to report that 
there is a copy of ``Darius Goes West'' in every middle school and high 
school in the United States.
  DMD is not a contagious disease, but the sense of hope and purpose 
that Darius and his friends possess is infectious, and I'm proud to 
commend Darius and the rest of the ``Darius Goes West'' crew for their 
hard work, and for giving literally millions of people a reason to 
care.

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