For more than 10 years, almost no one suspected a thing. Concert pianist Byron Janis acted as though nothing was wrong, continuing to tour the world, performing Chopin and other classical masters to adoring reviews and standing ovations.
“Reviewers said that I played a few wrong notes, but mostly nobody saw it,” recalls Byron, 82, who as a teenager studied under virtuoso pianist Vladimir Horowitz, performed for the great conductor Arturo Toscanini and made his Carnegie Hall debut at age 20. “I thought if I told people about it, they would look at me as a freak.”
“It” was the psoriatic arthritis in Byron’s hands, wrists and fingers that he first noticed in 1973.
A Painful Secret
Worried that public disclosure might destroy his career, Byron kept his ailment a secret from everyone except his wife and doctors until a dramatic February 1985 announcement at a White House concert. There he told the world he had become an ambassador for the arts for the Arthritis Foundation, saying, “I have arthritis, but arthritis doesn’t have me.”
During those days of secrecy, Byron recalls, “Iron will got me through. Arthritis taught me to look inside myself for new sources of strength and creativity.” Byron’s autobiography, Chopin and Beyond (John Wiley & Sons, 2010), appears this fall. He’s also the subject of a new PBS documentary. (Byron announced that he will donate 25 percent of the proceeds from the sales of his book, documentary and upcoming recording to the Arthritis Foundation.)
Looking back, he says, “Arthritis has given my life a new intensity."
The Search for Relief
But it wasn’t willpower alone that got Byron through the pain and hardships of arthritis. Over the years, with the approval of his doctor, he has found varying degrees of success with a wide array of therapies, including acupuncture, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) anti-inflammatory medication, cortisone injections, electro-stimulation, ultrasound, topical analgesics and gels, hypnotherapy, fluoromethane spray for pain, the Pritikin Diet and physiotherapy. “My wife [Maria, daughter of movie legend Gary Cooper] gives me pre-concert massages. They’re very helpful to me,” says Byron.
“Go to a top doctor,” he advises. “Don’t be afraid if you hear about alternative medicine. It can work, but try it only with a doctor’s permission. Different things work for different people. I’ve found all kinds of tricks to overcome this. Various things have worked for me at different times, but the one thing that has worked all the time is mind over matter – conscious denial. I say to myself, ‘You don’t have it,’ and I put my mind on other things. Then again, sometimes I try conscious acceptance. I say to myself, ‘I’ve got to accept this,’ and then I try to do something about it.”
Herbert Levin, Retired OTC Pharmacist
phmlev@bellsouth.net
Injecting Enbrel and taking MTX. But now I got many mental power more than pain.
Many Thanks!
P.S. Also...We will be strongggggggggggg with Arthurrrrrrrr.. We will make it..With God's blessing for sure. (FAITH) !
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