TORONTO STAR
Art, not arthritis is centre of her life
Crippling illness struck musician at start of career.
New drugs, joint replacements give her better life
VALERIE HAUCH STAFF REPORTER
Most of us take our hands and feet for granted.
Not so Jennifer Mason.
Once upon a time, her hands and feet would have likely transported her into a successful career in music, considering the years of training from the age of 12 in voice, piano, violin and organ, a bachelor of music from the University of Ottawa, singing with the National Arts Centre's resident choir and a diploma in vocal performance from University of Toronto.
But in 1980 - the same year she finished at U of T and had started teaching singing and piano - Mason got some news that explained the frequent joint pain in her hands and feet and the debilitating exhaustion she'd started experiencing in the late 1970s.
She was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, a chronic inflammatory disease involving the immune system that causes painful swelling of joints and can damage cartilage, bone, tendons and ligaments. It affects about 300,000 - or 1 in 100 - Canadians, according to The Arthritis Society, and is among the more than 110 forms of arthritis that affect 4 million-plus Canadians, a figure that is expected to reach 6 million by 2026.
"I was so sick and frightened that I just put my music career on hold and got a secretarial job," says Mason. By 1987 her illness was so severe she was hospitalized for a month and was devastated when she heard one doctor tell a group of students that hers was a tragic case "because I was going to lose the use of my hands."
By 1990, her hands and feet had become extremely deformed and it was becoming increasingly painful to walk. With constant flare-ups of her arthritis, she began to think she "might end up in a wheelchair."
Still, she decided it was time to "fulfil a lifetime dream and make a recording ... I wanted to do music that expressed love, was timeless and universal."
Her idea was to record lullabies from around the world and she began to research them, finding that lullabies weren't always about soothing children to sleep. "Not all lullabies are sweet," says Mason. "Some tell a lot about the singer. Some women, who felt repressed, for instance, would pour out their hearts in these songs to their child, the only person to whom they could speak freely."
She recorded a CD of lullabies titled Mothers Of The World, which was released in 1993. Soon after, Mason moved to the U.S. and was going to do more recording. But her arthritis flared up again and by July, 1994, she was forced to return to Canada and entered hospital.
"It was a dark time in my life,'' Mason recalls. "Everything just crashed. I was too sick to work. ... It had got to the point where I couldn't stand up. My toes had curled underneath my feet."
The next year she had her left hand reconstructed in surgery, including four artificial joints. "It became clear I would never recover the ability to play musical instruments well."
But just after one means of artistic expression closed down, another opened up. A friend introduced her to painting and Mason found she had a flair for it and had sufficient hand dexterity to handle the brushes. "I loved painting and dove in, attending open life-drawing sessions and taking courses part-time at Toronto School of Art."
She now does it professionally, getting her first portrait commission in 2001. She uses both hands in painting (her right hand was reconstructed two years ago) and her style is fluid and natural. In one corner there are canvases of reclining nudes and portraits. Her easel is set up where the light streams in and casts a Madonna-like glow on the mother and child portrait in oil paints that sits partly finished. It's a work imbued with peace and joy and it carries over to the painter herself.
A new drug therapy she started last year, a powerful immune suppressant, has brought a dramatic improvement to her health.
"For the first time in many years I'm not living with constant pain," says Mason.
She's doing things like biking, which she hadn't been able to do for 15 years. Mason is gathering material for a new recording of songs and says there will be a new pressing of her lullaby CD, which is currently available on her website. Part of the proceeds from CD sales goes to the Arthritis & Autoimmunity Research Centre at University Health Network, which is dedicated to research in arthritis, autoimmune diseases, musculoskeletal health and orthopedic surgery.
Because of strides in research and treatments, "someone diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis today won't have to go through what I did," says Mason.
The cause of rheumatoid arthritis is still unknown, but Mason is convinced that the cure is not far away. "I believe it will happen in my lifetime ... I believe in the next 10 years."