New Pornographers woman set to make documentary about mother's experience of Motor Neurone disease

When Kathryn Calder’s mother was given 2-3 years left to live, the Canadian musician and New Pornographers member moved back into her childhood home to become a fulltime caregiver.

Calder’s mother was diagnosed with Motor Neurone disease (aka Lou Gehrig’s disease) which occurs when specialist nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, called motor neurones, stop working properly. The damage caused to parts of the nervous system leads to progressive weakness, usually with muscle wasting. No cure exists for the rare condition and most suffers die from respiratory failure, usually within two to three years from the onset of symptoms.

Calder – who is also the niece of New Pornographers frontman Carl Newman – decided to record her first solo album Are You My Mother as a parting gift, recruiting a producer and turning the living room at her childhood home into a recording studio.

The recording process and a benefit concert held last July for Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day feature in A Matter Of Time, a documentary revealing the inspirational story of Calder’s experiences as a care-giver, which is seeking funding to complete and reach a wider audience. The goal of $50,000 has until 22 July to be reached, with just over half of that figured already pledged.

“I really had to think about whether I wanted to do it,” Calder has said. “It took me at least two weeks of, ‘Can I do this? Am I capable of doing this?’ to decide. But it was more important to me that this story gets told. I wanted to help people who are going through this.”

To donate to the the project, head over to Calder’s Kickstarter page.