Dad tunes out Parkinson's by making music
By Jessica Fargen
Boston Herald Health & Medical Reporter
Monday, June 18, 2007 - Updated: 04:01 AM EST
DOVER - Greg Rice, a dad of three and musical phenom, hopes to use his "gift
from God" to help find a cure for Parkinson's disease, the wretched illness
that has stripped him of his freedom to move, but filled his days with
music.
"I realized I had a gift and it's a gift from God. I should do something
with it," said Rice, 60, whose ability to compose music was switched on five
years ago with the treatment of his Parkinson's.
Tomorrowat a reception at the Boston College Club he'll officially
launch The Greg Rice Foundation at an event he hopes will net six-figure
donations. He is planning cocktail receptions and concerts as well, on his
way to raise millions to try to find a cure.
Rice discovered this hidden talent 10 years after he was diagnosed with
Parkinson's when he put poetry and composed music together for a slide show
of his daughter, Dana, now 8.
Since then, he's composed 30 pieces of music, including a symphony,
ballets and love songs. In an office in his Dover home, he painstakingly
plays chords on an electronic piano, writes them down and types the notes
into a computer. His music has been performed by ballet troupes and
orchestras.
"It amazes me. I can't believe I can do it," said Rice, who played piano
as a child. "I had no idea I had this talent."
Although he is very active - golfing, driving and coaching his sons'
youth baseball teams - he still struggles with moving, making small tasks
like using a remote or picking up something from the floor difficult.
"It's frustrating not to be able to play the music you write," he said.
Rice, who is retired, moves from one room to another in speedy shuffles,
using walls and doorframes to stop his forward motion. He falls down several
times a day.
His fingers and body are in near-constant motion - a frustrating
hallmark of Parkinson's, a disease that strips its subjects of muscle
control.
Dr. Alice Flaherty, a neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital who
knows Rice, said his talent is a phenomenom rarely seen in Parkinson's
patients. It's brought on by his body's reaction to his medication that
creates an intense goal-directed desire to do something.
"In his case, it's primarily composing," said Flaherty, who'll attend
Rice's event tomorrow. "Everything after that was his refining, his
practicing. He always amazes us."
Visit www.victoryoverparkinsons.com.
Rayilyn Brown
Board Member AZNPF
Arizona Chapter National Parkinson's Foundation
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