Kyler’s story: Louisville filmmaker documents nephew’s 499-day battle with DIPG

(ABC 36 NEWS NOW via LEX NEWS) — A Louisville-born Hollywood filmmaker is bringing a deeply personal story to the screen, one that began with a devastating diagnosis and ended 499 days later with the loss of his 9-year-old nephew, Kyler.

“Our story basically is about the 499 days that we had with Kyler from the day of his diagnosis to the day that we lost him in March of 2021,” Jamie Buckner said.

Buckner, a director and producer, made the documentary to honor Kyler’s memory and to shed light on diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) that affects only about 300 children each year, but is more common in Kentucky and still has few treatment advances.

Buckner described his nephew as a boy who left a lasting impression on everyone he met.

“He was such a funny little boy, so smart, so just free-spirited, you know. Kristen says a lot of this in the documentary, but he just, his eyes were so, you know, would lock you in and just you’d feel like you knew him forever, just would like lay in traffic for him,” Buckner said.

The idea for the film came from Kyler’s mother, Kristen, who wanted their family’s experience to serve as a resource for other families facing the same diagnosis.

“She wanted to create the documentary to document the experience and be able to share with others as a little bit of a guidebook, a little bit of survival guide of like, you know, we may not be able to save your kid, but there’s a community out there that is here to support you,” Buckner said.

While the film deals with heartbreak, Buckner said the goal was to make it a message of hope and advocacy.

“A movie about a kid who gets diagnosed and ultimately dies with cancer is not something that people are going to rush out to the theaters to see, but as an advocacy piece, we’ve really tried very hard to make it hopeful really and encouraging,” Buckner said.

Following the screening, Buckner and members of Kyler’s family will take questions from the audience, with the hope that the conversation will continue long after the credits roll.

“We’re trying to make this movie to sort of open folks’ eyes to that, like, yes, this only affects 300 kids per year, but they’re kids,” Buckner said.

The documentary will premiere at the Kentucky Science Center in Louisville on Saturday, Aug. 1 at 2 p.m. Visit 499days.com for tickets, which are $15.