By
News 5 National Correspondent Teri Okita
.
Published: Wed, December 26, 2007 - 5:00 pm
Conductor and pianist Leon Fleisher is now a Kennedy Center Honoree, an award he once thought impossible to attain. “I has made up my mind it would never happen," Fleisher said.
That’s because in the 1960’s, at the height of his playing powers, tragedy struck.
“The muscles in my forearm had become contracted to the point where it was like petrified wood. It was so hard."
The fingers on his right hand curled up and froze. And doctors couldn’t explain why. Undeterred Flesher learned to play only using his left hand. He also started teaching and conducting.
Everyday Fleisher sat down at the piano, testing his right hand, only to be disappointed. He did this for 30 years until doctors finally figured out what was causing the condition. He was diagnosed with focal dystonia, a neurological disease where the brain mistakenly tells muscles to freeze up.
Dr. Michele Tagliati, with the Mt. Sinai Medical Center, says sometimes focal dystonia causes "the hands to curl in. Sometimes the fingers spread out. Sometimes the wrists may bend in or out."
In the mid 90’s Fleisher tried an experimental treatment. The drug Botox was known to relax wrinkles and when doctors injected it into his forearm it relaxed the muscles, freeing up his frozen fingers.
“That was wow. I just started playing and didn't stop."
Fleisher’s story created an awareness that helped doctors recognize and treat focal dystonia in other patients. A major accomplishment in its own right.
You can see Leon Fleisher and the Kennedy Center Honors tonight at 8:00 on News 5. The other honorees are singer Diana Ross, Actor/Comedian Steve Martin, Director Martin Scorsese and Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson.
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Thank you for this article. My daughter has recently been diagnosed with this disease and we are looking at possible treatments. This article gives us a bit of hope. Thanks again.