Destin resident becomes documentary star

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.”

When Ekizian broke his neck in a diving accident in 1968, doctors predicted that even moving his arms again would be impossible. Years of exercise proved them wrong.

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.

Back when he was injured, Ekizian said, “they put you right into a nursing home. At the age of 21, that’s a devastating thing to have happen ... I talked to a doctor, he said the best thing for anybody is independent living, but that wasn’t out there back then.”

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.”

“The major excitement was in just watching people's lives change as they saw self-imposed limitations falling away,” Danielle Ekizian said in a news release, “when they were able to share challenges and to encourage each other through group sports and the friendships that developed ... We are still excited about the potential to change lives and the community for the better.”

Charlie Ekizian said mainstreaming people with disabilities is becoming even more important as growing numbers of injured veterans and aging Baby Boomers grapple with disabilities. He said “Going the Distance” came about after his former boss mentioned Dery — a relative of his — and his Triple Knot documentaries.

“He came and lived with us for a week,” Ekizian said, “and I told him the things that keep me healthy.”

Ekizian said while he hoped the movie would inspire others, he felt slightly self-conscious about it: “I hate to go out there and say ‘Look at me.’ ... I’m just an instrument of God’s love, I try to keep the ego out of the way.”

WANT TO WATCH
“Going The Distance” will be shown 6:30 p.m. Nov. 21 at the Emerald Coast Conference Center.