BY FIONA SMITH
MUSICIANS' HEALTH
The Pursuit of Happiness A story of how one individual’s positive mental attitude allowed them to follow their passions in life.
Sitting bored and uncomfortably cross-legged in the school assembly hall, something had finally caught my attention – a brass ensemble. At 9 years old, I was mesmerised by these shiny instruments making lots of interesting noises! Turns out, the people playing these instruments were from our local music centre and they had come to our school to give us a demonstration to find potential students for the next academic year! At 3.30pm, Mum came to pick me up from school, and I was still buzzing (pun intended!) from the excitement of that day. All the way home I would just not stop talking about this brass group. As soon as I got home, I opened my bag and thrust all the information sheets I had been given (along with the application form, of course) at my parents and begged them to read it, fill it in and post it as soon as humanly possible! I must admit however, I still did not have a clue what half the instruments were … but for some reason, they excited me very much! Although Mum and Dad tried their best to sound delighted, they had reservations … An interesting start to life … So, when Mum was pregnant, they noticed she was not putting on the usual weight, yet after having scans, other than me being slightly smaller than average, they had no immediate concerns. After a relatively quick birth, a 4lb 15oz me was brought into the world. Again, there were no concerns. Five weeks later however … the Health Visitor came to see me after my parents had expressed worries over my lack of feeding and my constant crying. It was at this visit where the Health Visitor also noticed my breathing was laboured; thus, an X-ray was ordered by my Paediatrician. 42
Sitting in the Doctor’s office, Mum and Dad were told my X-ray had shown up an ‘abnormal shaped lung’ and although they were told not to worry just yet, I would have to be sent to a specialist unit for more tests. At just over two months old, my parents were given the news no parent wants to hear, ‘Your child has a rare lung condition (Scimitar Syndrome) which means she effectively has one functioning lung. She also has two holes in the heart and some other complex issues that will require surgery. Without it, her chance of survival is 30 percent’. Although hard, my parents knew there was no choice, and so by the age of two and a half years old, I had undergone three corrective surgeries. Small child, big world … Growing up was difficult, I was only the size of an ant, and was always ill with numerous chest infections. I also spent most of my infant and junior school years on antibiotics, in addition to three years on growth hormone because of being shorter than my peers – being jabbed every evening by Mum was not something that thrilled me it must be said, but if I wanted a height boost, it had to be done; albeit I’m still the size of a half-pint now at only 4 feet 9 inches. Regardless of my shortcomings in life, I was never one to shy away from anything, and my parents knew this. But was playing a brass instrument really going to help me along the way? Testing out the metal … It was the new academic year, and I had been given my first Bb cornet. Although my cardiologists had given my parents the green light, they were still uncertain whether I would be able to cope. They were the first to admit they
