June 1, 2019
As many of you may know, our talented and beautiful friend Jane Hanson has faced a challenging decade health-wise, beginning with a severe medical crisis in 2010, in which she experienced a brain infection, aphasia, and a neurological attack that revealed active lesions on her brain and spine. She was hospitalized for the duration of that summer, and was later diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Jane secured disability status, and has been making her way as best she can.
In 2017, Jane developed a minor infection, and was prescribed ciprofloxacin ("cipro"), which belongs to a class of antibiotics called fluoroquinolones. She experienced an immediate negative reaction, which grew to encompass a cascade of symptoms typical of the condition known as fluoroquinolone (FQ) toxicity. Fluoroquinolone toxicity can cause permanent damage to DNA/mitochondria and the central nervous system – a dangerous situation for someone already suffering from M.S. Though her M.S. was in remission, cipro gave rise to almost fifty new symptoms, as diverse as insomnia, exploding head syndrome, rapid fifty-pound weight gain, depersonalization, and random muscle tears. In the wake of these symptoms, Jane has recently begun to experience a worsening of her M.S., which is terrifying to her after so many years of remission.
Though there are many sufferers of FQ toxicity, there are few doctors who are familiar with it, let alone able to treat it. After doggedly pursuing a solution for a year and a half, Jane finally found a physician capable of treating her condition. He advised a regimen of IV treatments, accompanied by a broad range of supplements. Jane completed four IV treatments in February of this year, at a cost of $550 each, and the supplements are an additional $1,200 expense per month. This medical crisis has been all-consuming -- intense research, consulting specialists, undergoing tests -- and in addition to suffering from the debilitating effects of FQ toxicity, Jane has gone into serious debt.
Jane did not want to ask anyone for help until she knew if the treatment would work. Thankfully, it does. After the February treatment, the brutal insomnia she had been experiencing for six months disappeared overnight - it felt like a miracle. But she is not out of the woods yet. She needs to stay on the supplement regimen, and she needs at least sixteen more IV treatments - seven hours a day, four consecutive days a week, for a month or longer. And there are other therapies that will come after that. It is daunting and scary, but for the first time in two years, Jane is feeling hopeful that she may make a reasonably full recovery.
Please help. Without our support and generosity, Jane will not be able to afford these treatments.
Click the Donate button above to contribute directly to the Friends of Jane PayPal account. Contributions can also be made to the "Friends of Jane Hanson" account at any Easthampton Savings Bank location, or mailed directly to Jane at her home address: Jane Hanson, 46 Allyn Street, Holyoke, MA 01040.
Many Thanks,
Friends of Jane
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ORIGINAL BLOG POST from September 3, 2010
For our friend and beloved teacher, Jane Hanson, the onset came suddenly, a terrifying loss of her ability to speak and a disorientation in afternoon traffic. Her friend and colleague Jason Trotta helped her get to Cooley Dickinson Hospital, where she was admitted and diagnosed with viral encephalitis. A few weeks later, she was admitted to Baystate Medical Center, where she was treated with high-dose steroids for the inflammation in her brain.
For so many of us who are her friends and students, the news spread like ripples on water. Our teacher and friend would have to suspend all of her musical endeavors, while she takes the long road to recovery from this mysterious, debilitating illness. We have faith it is temporary. In the meantime, her savings have been exhausted and her income is on hold.
As anyone who knows her can testify, Jane is much more of a giver than a taker—but this time she really needs us. And, as her friends, we are asking for your help.
The idea of musical life in the Pioneer Valley with Jane “on-hold” is almost unimaginable. She is a multi-talented, deeply skilled, and widely-versed musician—a pianist, conductor, and a singer with an exceptionally lovely mezzo-soprano voice. In addition to her vocal performance workshops and classes as director of her company, Jane Hanson Productions, she has conducted performances of operas and musicals in the Valley, led the Keene (N.H.) Chorale for six seasons, sung in and conducted many performances of the Chamber Music Society at Wistariahurst, to name just a few.
Her impact on individuals in her classes and private voice studio has been just as great. She has helped scores of students to overcome technical and emotional inhibitions--in some cases physical injury--and then to go beyond that, to engage our whole selves, body and soul, in the joyful art of singing. For many of us, this has been a very special gift. Jane is a feisty, strong-minded, generous person who doesn’t back down from life, and she won’t let YOU do so either. The idea of her being house-bound is really, really wrong, but it is what she needs to do to marshal her forces and recover.
She has health insurance, but additional, uncovered medical expenses mount, as do the expenses of keeping and maintaining her house in Holyoke. She is a single mother, with a bright and beautiful 10 year old boy, Xavier, and anyone who knows her knows her total dedication and love for him, and the closeness of their bond. Jane’s brother, Alex, and his wife, Cristen, faithfully cared for Xavier at their home in Vermont this summer. They have done so much to support Jane, but their resources are limited, and so it will take all of us to help her through this. She may be out of work for as long as a year. She has arranged for her classes and workshops to be carried on, so that Jane Hanson Productions will continue, but any income from these now goes to hiring faculty to carry on those programs.
Jane has to spend much of the day lying down, but her spirit is upright as she talks about the outpouring of love and kindness she has already received. She proudly points to the scores of cards – “I call it my card garden, a garden I don’t have to water,” she says—from those who miss her and wish her well. She expresses her gratitude often and openly to the friends who have helped her through this crisis. Recovery will take time. Please consider making a contribution to The Friends of Jane Fund through this safe and secure website.
THANK YOU – Jason Trotta, Laura Jenkins, Evelyn Harris, David Perkins, Betty Forrest, Pamela Smith, Stephen Biegner, & Janet Egelston
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