When Life Gives You Lemons, Play the Horn

One October day, Sharyn Worcester came down with a sinus infection. A few days later, she couldn’t walk. She certainly couldn’t play her French horn.

Her situation is not something out of science fiction or a tall tale. Her condition occurred because while fighting that simple sinus infection, her body’s immune system attacked its own nervous system. Worcester noticed progressively worse symptoms as she went about her day teaching as assistant band director at Junction City High School, but as with most of us, she chalked it up to fatigue and her ongoing sickness. Besides, she had work to do and could just power through…until she couldn’t.

“We arrived at the emergency room around six in the evening,” says Worcester. “I was walking like a chimpanzee. I could no longer lift up my toes to take a proper step; I had to lift my knees and slap my feet on the floor to get around. My hands were curled in fists; I couldn’t straighten my fingers. The numbness had spread up to my hips and shoulders. After a couple tests, I was officially diagnosed with Guillain-Barre Syndrome.”

Before her life changed forever, Sharyn was just a typical Kansas girl following her well-laid plans. She had recently graduated from Kansas State University and was pursuing her teaching dream. Her husband, Ben, serves at University Christian Church as the music specialist, and at the time, he was starting graduate school.

Sharyn’s love of music came at a young age, fed by her family. Her earliest music memory involves her mother. After dropping her siblings off at school, Sharyn and her mom would return home and sing along with the theme song to “The Waltons.” Her older sister, Karyn, taught Sharyn what she learned in band each day when she came home from school. Worcester jokes that she started playing the horn in third grade because of these lessons provided by her sister. When she was finally old enough to sit in a band chair herself, she only had eyes for the French horn.

Her father, knowing this, brought her beloved instrument to her hospital room one day after her nerves were regenerating and she had use of her hands and arms again. He knew she couldn’t play (she could not even buzz her lips) but thought just holding the horn, telling the nurses about it and oiling it would be a comfort to her. Unfortunately, with her depleted strength and dexterity, Worcester could not even squeeze oil from the bottle. She gave the horn to her sister and tried not to think about it. She focused on relearning absolutely everything else from walking to raising her arms and taking care of herself to simply saying the letter B.

After her diagnosis, Worcester’s recovery spanned 55 days in two hospitals and one rehab facility. Finally, she got to go home. Two months later, she was able to return to work. “It was great to be with my students again,” says Worcester, “but I was still frustrated that I couldn’t play my horn.”

Almost two years later, Worcester’s husband asked her to play the French horn for church. Karyn returned her instrument and despite nervousness, began to practice. Many hours of work later, she succeeded in playing for the worship service. A mountain had been climbed. Two years after that, the couple welcomed their miracle son, Harley, to their lives and her French horn was set aside again, this time for the joys of early motherhood.

Five years after her diagnoses, Sharyn auditioned for the Salina Symphony. What she used to take for granted is a gift now. Worcester remembers the days when she could not buzz her lips or oil those valves. Playing with the Symphony is humbling and precious to her. Others share her joy as well.

“First of all, she is a great horn player,” says Kyle Hopkins, Salina Symphony principle horn player. “Secondly, I had no idea of her disability for the first several years we played together. I knew she had a hitch in her step, but that can come from any numbers of things. I just assumed she had some torn cartilage from an old ballet injury or something. I had no clue that at one point in her life not too long ago she had to relearn how to walk, eat and play the horn. Thirdly, she is so much fun.  She is hysterical and she and her sister, who also plays horn in the Symphony, are a regular comedy duo.”

“Life doesn’t always give you what you planned for,” says Worcester. “There were plenty of times when I cried. There were plenty of times when I used humor to push myself through recovery. Regardless of my terrifying health journey, I am so happy and blessed where I am right now. My story is a great testimony for my relationship with God, and I’m hoping that it can inspire others that may have circumstances that keep them from playing or doing whatever brings them joy.”

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Written by Lisa Farrar Wellman

Do you have an idea for a future Symphony Spotlight story? Contact Adrienne Allen at 785-823-8309 or execdir@salinasymphony.org.