I caught Dandy Kids at a sneak preview and was both impressed and moved.
The movie begins with the filmmaker, Darla Rae, recounting a phone call from her pregnant niece: The baby is missing part of his brain. Doctors are encouraging her to terminate the pregnancy.
The baby's disorder is called Dandy Walker syndrome.
Soon, we are invited into intimate conversations of other parents of kids with the rare disorder. The thing is: No one--not even the doctors--knows much of anything about it. They can't even predict the outcome of children who have it. Some, in fact, do just fine! So why do doctors present such bleak outlooks? And what do parents do when faced with this unknown future--and unknown disease? And what can we--each one of us--do to help encourage the research desperately needed to help these families? Through interviews with doctors, researchers and parents, Dandy Kids explores these questions, all the while drawing us into what it must be like to be faced with the awesome responsibility of researching your child's disorder because even your own doctors don't know about it.
At the end of the film last night, there wasn't a dry eye in the house. And yet, it wasn't depressing. It was hopeful.
When you next get a chance to see it, well, you simply must. It has already made an impact on the national scene, helping get support for related legislation.