[Blindtlk] Newsarticle: Blind Pianist Makes Music

[Steven Johnson]

Pianist Patrick Hughes plays at the Cargill Room at the Waterfront building
Thursday, October 20, 2011. Hughes was born with a rare disease called
Anophthalmia, diagnosed with pterygium syndrome, and congenital bilateral
hip dysplasia. (Rory O'Driscoll/La Crosse Tirbune)

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..He started playing piano when he was 9 months old. At 2 years, he played
nursery rhymes by ear. He played trumpet in the University of Louisville
marching band, and graduated magna cum laude with a degree in Spanish
language.

He also wrote a book.

But before he did all of these things, Patrick Henry Hughes, 23, was born
without eyes or the ability to straighten his limbs.

He visited La Crosse Thursday to share his story with high school students
and attendees of a YMCA fundraiser. 

"People need to know that life is truly a blessing," he said. "It doesn't
matter who you are, where you're from."

When Hughes first started playing piano, certain notes reminded him of
familiar voices - voices he connected to family and friends.

Demonstrating, Hughes  pressed a single key. A high note rang from the
piano.

"This note about here would be for my mom," he said.

He pressed another key, a low note.

"This one right here for my dad," he said.

Hughes' parents rested him on top of an upright piano and played soft music
when he was an infant. If he was crying, the sound would calm him down.

"As soon as I started playing, he got quiet," said his father, Patrick John
Hughes. "It soothed him."

The boy's love for music was instant. He insisted on 30 minutes of playing
time before school every day, and two or three hours more when he got home.

"My parents had to invent ways to get me away from the piano," he said.

The same love of music inspired Hughes to seek entry into the University of
Louisville pep band when he started college. The director told him he would
also have to play in the marching band.

"My first reaction was, yeah right," Hughes said. "I'm blind and in a
wheelchair."

But at halftime Hughes was on the field, his father pushing him through the
winding formations.

Hughes played in the band for five seasons.

Despite a mountain of accomplishments, Hughes calls himself "an ordinary
guy." 

He has a candid awareness of his physical limitations, though they seldom
stop him from accomplishing a goal. 

Hughes wanted to play the drums when he joined band but picked the trumpet,
knowing he couldn't maneuver his body to play percussion.

He doubted his ability to march with the rest of the band but played every
year with help from his father.

"Overall, it taught me not to say no," he said. "It might not be impossible,
so give it a try. Try it a few times."

Hughes wants to pass on what he's learned, appearing on national TV and
speaking two or three times a month. The book he co-wrote with his father,
"I Am Potential: Eight Lessons on Living, Loving, and Reaching Your Dreams,"
avoids an autobiographical format. He wanted it to be more than a simple
tale, Hughes said.

 He hopes his story can help people appreciate what they have, to enjoy
life.

"Yesterday, that's come and gone," Hughes said. "We're not guaranteed
tomorrow."

.

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen." Hebrews 11