Duchenne’s Muscular Dystrophy (DMD): About Charley and Weems
Darius Weems, a young man, afflicted with DMD, died recently. Reflecting on Weems’ life and work against DMD at Friday’s funeral service at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Athens, Georgia, Dr. Benjamin Seckler, a physician who started the Massachusetts-based Charley’s Fund after his own son, Charley, was diagnosed a decade ago at age 3 with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Charley continues to live with the disease.
Seckler, with his wife, Tracy, at his side, told the crowd filling Ebenezer Baptist, “I love Darius — I refuse to use the past tense.”
Weems’ fundraising work helped produce the recent turning point in fighting DMD, Seckler said. “Because of this kid,” he said, “textbooks are being rewritten.”
Seckler, too, recalled a scene in “Darius Goes West”, a movie about Weems, then a teen, who offered his advice to viewers, telling them to “be kind and live life to the fullest.”
“I hope you all listen to the words of this prophet,” Seckler told the crowd at Weems’ funeral.#
