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Home / Bearing Witness: Luke Melchior - DVD

Bearing Witness: Luke Melchior - DVD ONF/NFB


Catalogue Number:  NFB524329
Producer:  National Film Board Of Canada
Producers:  Adam Symansky, Pierre Lapointe, Sally Bochner
Directors:  Dan Curtis
Producing Agencies:  National Film Board of Canada (Montreal), Office national du film du Canada (Montreal)
Subject:  Canadian Social Studies, Civics, Documentary, Family Studies/Home Economics, Health and Medicine, Learning Disabilities, Media and Communications, People With Disabilities, Psychology, Social Studies
Language:  English
Grade Level:  Post Secondary
Country Of Origin:  Canada
Copyright Year:  2003
Running Time:  51:10
Closed Captions:  Yes


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Luke Melchior jokes that at least he doesn't have to watch his cholesterol intake. Already, at 26, he has lived longer than most people with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a progressive wasting of the muscles.

Knowing his life will be relatively short has made Luke feel an urgency about making a lasting contribution. He lives independently, with the help of three homecare workers, runs a web-based business selling outdoor gear, and chairs the board of the Disability Resource Centre in Victoria, BC, where he is a passionate advocate for the rights of the disabled.

Bearing Witness: Luke Melchior is a candid portrait of a year in Luke's life. Though his illness may set him apart, he is essentially a young man like so many others: concerned with making his way in the world, being as independent as possible and finding a girlfriend.

Bearing Witness consists of three films, each approximately one hour long, on people with life-threatening illnesses. The series also profiles Jocelyn Morton, who died of liver cancer at 44, and Robert Coley-Donohue, who died of ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease) at age 74.


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