1st Tucson Screening of Inspirational Film About MS, "When I Walk," Scheduled June 18

 

From: scarr51@gmail.com [mailto:scarr51@gmail.com] On Behalf Of Steve Carr
Sent: Thursday, June 5, 2014 3:24 PM
Subject: 1st Tucson Screening of Inspirational Film About MS, "When I Walk," Scheduled June 18

 

NEWS RELEASE

SCREENING OF INSPIRATIONAL, AWARD-WINNING FILM, "WHEN I WALK," SET WEDNESDAY JUNE 18, 5:30 pm; FILMMAKER'S PERSONAL BATTLE WITH MS

 

WHAT

• Tucson's first screening of the documentary, When I Walk, the story of filmmaker Jason DaSilva's daily battle with Multiple Sclerosis, is scheduled at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, June 18.

• The film was an official selection at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and won Best Canadian Feature at Hot Docs 2013; the Audience Award at the 2013 Vancouver International Film Festival; Innovation Award at the 2013 Topanga Film Festival and Grand Jury Prize at the 2013 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival.

• DaSilva was diagnosed in 2006, at age 25, with primary-progressive MS, a degenerative disease that stops people from moving.  Ultimately, MS affected DaSilva's ability to walk and to see, but his family and friends took over filming to ensure his determination to continue living was captured on film.

• A The New York Times reviewer wrote:  Fueled by its maker's uncompromising intelligence and unrelenting candor, "When I Walk" is also indebted to two women: Mr. DaSilva's fiercely indomitable mother — whose no-whining policy can seem at times a little heartless — and the lovely Alice Cook, whose joy and anguish over her flowering relationship with Mr. DaSilva occasion some of the film's most genuinely moving moments. Forced to become her partner's eyes and hands, Ms. Cook displays a bravery and vulnerability every bit as impressive as Mr. DaSilva's own.

 

WHEN

• Wednesday, June 18, 5:30 p.m.

 

WHERE

• Marshall Auditorium, Tucson Medical Center, 4301 E. Grant Road, Tucson.

• Refreshments will be provided.

 

INFO

• Seating is limited.  Registration is recommended.  To register, contact Alanna Gonzales, agonzales@neurotucson.com or call (520) 529-5211.

• A $5 donation is suggested at the door.

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Contacts:

• Crystal Blickfeldt, Community Development Manager, Southern Arizona, at (520) 325-0755, 20-271-3807 (cell); or crystal.blickfeldt@nmss.org

• Steve Carr, The Kur Carr Group, Inc., (602) 317-3040, or scarr@fastq.com

 

About Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) interrupts the flow of information from the brain to the body and stops people from moving.  Every hour in the United States, someone is newly diagnosed with MS, an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system. Symptoms range from numbness and tingling to blindness and paralysis. The progress, severity and specific symptoms of MS in any one person cannot yet be predicted, but advances in research and treatment are moving us closer to a world free of MS. Most people with MS are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, with more than twice as many women as men being diagnosed with the disease.  MS affects more than 400,000 people in the U.S., and 2.5 million worldwide.

 

About the National Multiple Sclerosis Society

MS stops people from moving.  The National MS Society exists to make sure it doesn't.  We help each person address the challenges of living with MS through our 50-state network of chapters.  We fund more MS research, provide more services to people with MS, offer more professional education and further more advocacy efforts than any other MS organization in the world.  The Society is dedicated to achieving a world free of MS.  We are people who want to do something about MS now.  Join the movement at nationalmssociety.org.

 

Studies show that early and ongoing treatment with an FDA-approved therapy can reduce future disease activity and improve quality of life for many people with multiple sclerosis. Talk to your health care professional and contact the National MS Society at http://aza.nationalMSsociety.org or 1-800-344-4867 to learn about ways to help manage multiple sclerosis and about current research that may one day reveal a cure.

 

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