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Musician's rescue
By Elisabeth Douehring Special to Splash!
In a flash, a life can change. And in between those flashes, music intersects with life to fill the gaps and foster healing.
On the morning of November 28, 2005 Meg was traveling the Hutchison Parkway outside New York City. On her way to tutor one of her special need students, her car was forced off the road. The Lincoln went out of control, eventually tumbling into a ravine, and landing on a tree.
Thrown from her seatbelt, Meg landed head first into the windshield. A man approached the scene and offered to call an ambulance as well as Meg's family. With glass embedded in her face and her eyes nearly closed shut, Meg sensed herself being escorted to a nearby log, where this mysterious Good Samaritan held her in a comforting embrace.
After emergency responders reached Meg, she asked the young man with blood stained on his shirt, "How am I ever going to be able to thank you?" The stranger smiled and touched her, saying "don't worry," and handed her two CDs. Meg realized in the ambulance that she had been given two musical discs, "Coastal America" and "A Quiet Shore".
Thus began her introduction friend's call to his business manager was readily accepted and soon Meg was conversing with Tim Janis himself.
Over the next few days and months, Tim would compose handwritten notes and make calls to check on Meg's progress while she became engulfed in Janis' rolling and sweeping orchestrations.
Traces of Celtic music intersect with the brilliance of Yani or John Tesh in Janis' works. The purest forces of nature surround the listener, and Tim Janis' music envelopes the soul and allows the spirit to soar.
Janis' albums sales have been one million worldwide. Janis has to his credit four public television specials and 15 Billboardcharting CDs. He now has elevated his talent to where he performs with artists such as Paul McCartney and Billy Joel. According to Janis, "Growing up I was always in awe of McCartney and Joel. Now that
am older and know them as fellow musicians, I am still in awe of their amazing musical gifts."
Janis's music, while being played and appreciated on a world class stage, has a deeper meaning. His "Music with a Mission" has a charitable face that fulfills a goal of meeting the needs of assisting individuals living with HIV in South Africa to the American Cancer Society and the Dream Foundation.
Speaking of Dream Foundation, enter Sean ClarkeRedmond. Diagnosed in 2000 with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, Sean was granted a musical dream. A composer himself for more than three decades, Sean's greatest yearning was to have one of his instrumentals orchestrated by none other than Tim Janis. Sean was able to see his wish become a reality when Janis orchestrated Clarke-Redmond's "Watching A Dream".
Upon being presented with the first copy of "Watching a Dream" by Janis, an astounded Clarke-Redmond said, "Tim's music comes from the same source that I was coming from with my own music. God speaks to the man through his music. Listening to his music is like finding your other half. Tim and I were meant to find each other. It has been a wonderful honor to have him take this project on."
From Tim Janis' perspective he says, "God has given me my music as a gift. I feel that the purpose of music is to help others on this earth. Meeting Sean has enriched my life so much. Anyone in a position of giving gets back so much more than they give."
Thomas Rollerson, founder and president of Dream Foundation reflects on the collaboration
between Janis and dream recipient ClarkeRedmond. "This project was put together in just two days. It was so easy working with Tim Janis. When we first approached him, he immediately understood this request. And it became a top priority for him to fulfill Sean's dream. Without question, Sean and his teaming up with Tim is one that will live in my heart forever."
Rollerson talks about his team's dedication to the fulfillment of dreams day in and day out. "What is so precious is that first time that we are invited into someone's life within their last moments. This is what it is all about."
When Rollerson tried to track down a dream-granting organization for a loved one living with a terminal illness, he was amazed to see that there were 80 organizations already set up to grant the wishes of terminally ill children. Yet there was not one for assisting adults. Thus began the establishment of the Dream
Foundation. Based in Santa
Barbara, California, the Dream rescue
Foundation (www.dreamfoundation. org) is the first national wish-granting organization for adults ages 18 years and older. Dream Foundation grants wishes in all fifty states to individuals who have been "diagnosed with a terminal illness and have a life expectancy of less than six months." Since its inception in 1994, it has granted 4,240 wishes.
Other Dream Foundation projects have included fulfilling a promise to a young 34-year old single mother of two to see the Pacific Ocean for the first time. Another life-touching moment occurred when a father of two who had been separated from his two sons, ages 8 and 9, eventually reunited with them and their mother in Tennessee on Father's Day. Only two days later this same estranged father and his former wife rekindled their former relationship. A wedding ceremony soon took place in which he remarried his former spouse, and the next day passed away from a brain tumor.
Tim Janis understands the value of giving back to organizations such as Dream Foundation and the American Cancer Society. "I have lost family members to cancer. A lot of people have emailed me to share that they were using my music during their oncology treatments. This then led me to making a CD in 2001 in which all the profits were designated for the American Cancer Society."
Whether sitting on a log or resting in a hospice bed, Tim Janis' work has made many small dreams and some mighty big ones come true. His music makes a splash in the book of life whether you are on the Pacific, Atlantic, or here on the
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