Recently I made my third trip to Western Michigan to film a meeting between the Mikula family who use lawn mower racing to raise funding for the Huntington's Disease Society of America (HDSA) and their congressman Peter Hoekstra. Congressman Hoekstra was extremely generous with his time taking about 45 minutes to get to know the Mikulas and Huntington's disease. Congressman Hoekstra recently agreed to cosponsor the Huntington's Disease Parity Act of 2009 which was introduced by congressmen Filner and Bilbray both of California. Congressman Hoekstra listened intently as Jim Mikula explained how Huntington's disease has affected his family and how the family hosts a United States Lawn Mower Racing Association (USLMRA) national points race in Sparta, Michigan to raise awareness of the disease and funding for its research. Hoekstra then explained on camera how he learned about the bill and why it is important for it to become law.
I will be interviewing Dr. Karen Anderson at the University of Maryland in Baltimore on November 2 in order to provide a further clinical definition of Huntington's disease. I have already interviewed doctors Tim O'Neil and Carol Manning both of Virginia. I am hoping to be granted permission to film the keynote speaker at an upcoming Huntington's disease symposium to be held in Baltimore in November.
With most of the filming completed I am sending out resumes in hope of returning to the life of a telecommunications/network technician. If I can raise the $250 needed to buy a Mac mini I will begin transferring the 100 plus hours of footage to a hard drive in preparation for editing. With the help of Shaun Wright of Towson University I expect to have the film's trailer recut in November to include the narrative of how lawn mower racing is taking an active role in the battle against Huntington's disease.
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