For Eastman Musician, Piano Has Been the Key to Life

By age 12, pianist James Wilson ’23E had performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, and Carnegie Hall in New York City. He was a finalist in an international competition in Paris. But at 13, Wilson was playing at an unscheduled venue: Akron Children’s Hospital in Akron, Ohio, where he was battling a rare cancer called Ewing Sarcoma. Weeks of treatment left him with numbness in his fingers and weakness in his ankles, common side effects of chemotherapy. His music career—and his life—were in jeopardy. But through the piano came healing. A music therapist brought a keyboard to Wilson’s hospital room so he could strengthen his fingers by playing. From his bed, the teenager performed everything from Mozart to Taylor Swift, entertaining other children and hospital staff. "It was like having our own Symphony Hall channel in the oncology department every day,” says Laurie Schueler, a communications specialist at Akron Children’s Hospital. “It was wonderful.” The therapy helped Wilson recover the use of his fingers. The strength in his ankles eventually returned. And doctors performed surgery to remove the tumor. Now cancer free, Wilson is a piano performance major at the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music. Since his illness, he has performed three more times at Carnegie Hall, and in Italy and the Netherlands. But he says the hospital in Akron is the concert venue that has had the greatest impact on his life. It gave him hope—and humility. Read more on James's story: https://www.rochester.edu/newscenter/... Subscribe to the University of Rochester on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Universi... Follow the University of Rochester on Twitter:   / uofr   Be sure to like the University of Rochester on our Facebook page:   / university.of.rochester