GET WELL SOON!

October 17, 2007

Yesterday, we had quite a scare...actually, two scares! Late in the afternoon, we got a call from Darius's older sister, Maroneesha, saying that D's mom, Jamie, was at the emergency room with suspected pneumonia. After running several tests, they discovered that she had congestive heart failure, and she was admitted! Maroneesha says she had to drag Jamie to the hospital in the first place because she was worried about who would take care of Darius. Good thing she listened to her daughter! Doctors say had she waited much longer, she probably would have had a major heart attack and be facing triple bypass surgery! For now, she is resting comfortably, getting the medication she needs intravenously, and is expected to be home (hopefully) by Sunday. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers. And if you'd like to send her a get well card, mail it to: Jamie Robinson/235 Peach Street/Athens, GA 30606.

While Jamie was in the E.R., Darius was on his way home from school when the bus took a sharp turn. Darius fell out of his chair and ended up in the emergency room as well...in a room right across from his mom! Fortunately, he only suffered a twisted ankle and was released within a couple of hours. Today, he returned to school.

And if you can believe this: Maroneesha is scheduled to have foot surgery on Friday and will be on crutches for at least 8 weeks!

Jamie needn't worry about someone taking care of Darius. Since many DGW crew members live in Athens, they didn't hesitate to step up. Sam picked Darius up from the E.R., took him home to grab some clothes, and (temporarily) moved him into the rental house he shares with his brother, Amble, and DGW 13th crew member, Chris Williams. And this morning, Ben and Collin set their alarms early to get to Sam's and make sure Darius was bathed, fed, and taken to school before heading to their own classes at UGA.

To complicate matters, D's electric wheelchair broke this afternoon (it prefers going in circles), and it was just repaired a week or so ago in Atlanta. What's more, his pimped chair has been in the shop for weeks, but we haven't been able to get it out because the bill is $2,600, it's not covered by Medicaid, and DGW is pretty much broke.

Tim Johnson recently sent out a plea for donations to help us get through our final three film festivals and to cover unexpected expenses, and so many of our fans have generously responded. THANK YOU so much! Hopefully, we will raise enough to get his "spare" chair out of the shop soon! Meanwhile, Daniel spent over an hour tonight checking out the chair D is using now. He was hoping he could tweak it and make it go "straight." No such luck.

Speaking of film festivals, Sam, Collin, Jason, TBarn, and Darius had planned to drive to Indianapolis this weekend for the Heartland Truly Moving Pictures Film Festival. However, given that Jamie is in the hospital and Darius's wheels are not "spinning" at the moment, they have decided to cancel this trip.

We all feel certain that next week will be better!

Know about it!