24 Years of Pain until…I started Dancing

At the age of 8 I was diagnosed with Osteo Arthritis. Normal childhood activities were always painful, but I kept going, dealing with the pain afterwards.

As a young adult in my late teens to early twenties, I used to go to the dance clubs when I wasn’t working as a chef. Disco was the rage and I loved it!!! Then, at the age of 27, my life was turned upside down when I was diagnosed with reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy. My left leg, from my toes to my hip swelled to 4 times its size and turned a bluish gray color! The pain was horrific; it felt like my entire leg was being crushed with a 2 ton weight while viciously being stabbed with a razor sharp saber! The external skin temperature was 103 degrees, I was on fire, and the slightest touch was unbearable! I started getting strong muscle spasms around my rib cage, making it difficult to breathe and impossible to straighten up. All I could do was cry, just cry!!!

No medication at the time eased my pain. I lost everything, my job, friends, health insurance and at times my mind. All the joy in my life was gone and I slipped into deep depression. I could not walk or even put my foot on the ground.

I went to many different doctors and pain specialists, tried medications, physical therapy and electronic nerve stimulation, NOTHING worked! One specialist decided to try sympathetic nerve blocks. He was to insert a long spinal tap needle between the vertebrae and into the spinal column. He needed to inject a numbing agent directly in to the sympathetic nerve. This procedure was to be done once a week for 4 weeks. It was an extremely painful experience. During the last of the series I suffered a stroke. My body was in full tremor, my eyes rolled back and I couldn’t speak. The doctor removed the needle as quickly as possible and opened the I.V. line to release sedatives into my body. 15 minutes later I came out of it. The stroke had impaired the motor functions and feeling on the left side of my body. My muscles could no longer hold my hips in alignment; I could not move my leg, foot or toes. It took 2 years of therapy to learn walk, but walk with a limp I did. I could not walk more that 5 feet without swelling and pain, but I did walk. I gained a lot of weight from the 6 pills a day I had to take combined with the inactivity. I tried to joke saying “I am twice the person I once was”, but in truth, I was living a life of depression filled with pain. I could no longer do the things that brought me joy, long walks, or dancing to name a few.

Over the next 18 years all the medication took a toll on my immune system, I was sick all the time. After talking with my doctor, I decided to get off all of it. The pain became more intense, however, over the years I learned to live with it.

One evening, while watching television, I saw someone who inspired me to do something that would change my life for the better. I decided to try ballroom dancing. I began in late April 2008. The first few weeks were painful to say the least. By June, however, for the first time in 24+ years, I am completely pain free. My toes are moving, I’m getting motor function and feeling back and I’m losing weight!!! Everything seems brighter, depression a thing in the past. I’m so happy!! I feel healthier then I have in years! I won’t say dancing is a cure, but it has worked a miracle for me. Hurray I’m dancing again!!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank a few people. To Maksim Chmerkovskiy for unknowingly inspiring me to try; Gabriella Bodocs, Babette and Warren Brown, Lisa Haber, and Pierre Gider for their encouragement, support and extra coaching; and most of all to Vladimir Velev for his patience, humor, kind heart, expertise, support encouragement and for not giving up on me.

Your Very Grateful Student,

Cheryl Bazar

P.S. Fred, wherever you are, thanks for creating these studios!