Nov. 10, 2006 — When I met
18-year old Patrick Henry Hughes, I knew he was musically talented. I
had been told so, had read that he was very able for someone his age
and who had been blind and crippled since birth.
Patrick's eyes are not functional; his body and legs are stunted. He is
in a wheelchair. When we first shook hands, his fingers seemed entirely
too thick to be nimble. So when he offered to play the piano for me and
his father rolled his wheelchair up to the baby grand, I confess that I
thought to myself, "Well, this will be sweet. He has overcome so much.
How nice that he can play piano."
The original plan, I thought, would be this: We were going to talk a
bit as he played. That was the plan. Hughes would explain how he
managed to navigate the keyboard and how he first learned the piano and
what his favorite songs were.
But then Patrick put his hands to the keyboard, and his fingers began
to race across it — the entire span of it, his fingers moving up and
back and over and across the keys so quickly and intricately that my
fully-functional eyesight couldn't keep up with them. I was stunned.
The music his hands drew from that piano was so lovely and lyrical and
haunting, so rich and complex and beyond anything I had imagined he
would play that there was nothing I could say. All I could do was
listen.
That is the power of Patrick Henry Hughes. He quietly makes you listen.
'God Made Me Blind — Big Deal'
"I mean, God made me blind and didn't give me the ability to walk. I
mean, big deal." Patrick said, smiling. "He gave me the talent to play
piano and trumpet and all that good stuff."
This is Patrick's philosophy in life, and he wants people to know it.
He isn't fazed by what many of us would consider insurmountable
obstacles.
"I'm the kind of person that's always going to fight till I win,"
he said. "That's my main objective. I'm gonna fight till I win."
Patrick also attends the University of Louisville and plays trumpet in
the marching band. The band director suggested it, and Patrick and his
father, Patrick John Hughes, who have faced tougher challenges
together, decided "Why not?"
"That's right," the younger Patrick said.
"Don't tell us we can't do something," Patrick's father added, with a
chuckle. He looks at Patrick with a mixture of love and loyalty and
admiration, something not always seen. in the eyes of a father when he
gazes at his son.
"I've told him before. He's my hero," the elder Hughes said.
Father and Son Together at Band Practice
Patrick's father attends every practice and every game with him, and
learns all the routines. It's fascinating to watch them together, with
Patrick focused on his trumpet's notes, swaying with the rest of the
band in time with the music, and his father focused on being his son's
eyes and legs.
And this is no
sit-still-in-the-wheelchair-while-the-band-marches-around-you routine:
Patrick and his father are right in the thick of it, with the
wheelchair sprinting and spinning in formation and Patrick hanging on
and playing his heart out.
Patrick says the other students in the band have been great to them.
"The students always help out Dad because sometimes he might get out of step," he explained impishly.
Patrick's father grins and nods. He concedes that navigating
a wheelchair across the thick grass of a football field, in formation,
sometimes at top speed, offers many exciting challenges for a man old
enough to be the father of a college student. Fortunately, fellow band
members are eager and willing to point him in the right direction.
"The biggest problem is sometimes when I'm backing up with Patrick, I
can't stop quick enough." he said. "I'll have a horn player behind me,
and they've gotten smart enough now that, rather than running into
their horn, they put their hand up."
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