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THEY
SAlO
I'D
NEVER
WALK
AGAIN
There is sometimes a fine line
between failure and success.
This warm, inspiring personal
story by a we/1-known N. Y.
cartoonist, a victim of arthritis,
shows that physical handicaps
need not be a deterrent to a
productive and rewarding life.
by
Bill Boynansky
The
PLAIN TRUTH August 1976
1
n 1927, just aft er my seventh
birthday, the doctor examined
me. shook hi s head gravely. and
said: ·'Bill, it looks as though you
will be in bed a few months."
l
was.
But the monlhs dragged on into
fou rteen long years!
I
was a victim
of arthritis - in both hands and
bot h legs.
l
was taken to the hospita l
for treatment.
I had always been exlremely ac–
tive, and id le days in bed did things
to me. What was
1
todo? One of lhe
nurses on lhe ftoor carne lo my res–
cue. She broughl me lhe Sunday
comic papers, and il was my daily
assignmenl to copy Dick Tracy, Or–
phan Annie, and Lil' Abner. Ske tch–
ing the antics of these imaginary
creations amused me and he lped
pass away lhe long hours in bed.
As the months dragged by, both
my hands became severely crippled.
I
cou ldn't straighten out my finge rs
and found it ex tremely difficult to
hold a pencil. After much etfort and
struggle,
1
succeeded in controlling
my twisted hand ; even today it is
su persensitive in that
1
can handle
only very light objects and have lim–
ited use of my fingers.
Much ftexibility was restored lo
my hands by a small rubber ball
which a thoughtful nurse gave me.
Three or four times a day she would
see to it that I squeezed the little
rubber ball for a few minutes. With–
out realizing it, not only the condi–
tion of my hands improved, but my
work also improved - until I found
myself drawing original cartoon
eh aracters.
For fourteen years, every hour
fi lled wi th excruciating pain and
misery,
l
was unable to wa lk.
Friends would remark, "He will
never be able to walk again." Their
words, like saber thrusts, seemed to
cut deep into my mind and body.
My physica l sutfering was nothing
compared to the thoughts that raced
through my mind. "Could they be
right? Never to walk agai n?"
It
was
like being sentenced to a living
death; a black curtain, thick and im–
penetrable, hung before me.
Deep down inside , my heart
ticked out encouragement and hope,
until
1
convinced myself that some–
day, somehow, God willing,
1
would
walk again. At lhe time it was just
wishful thinking. In my dreams at
night
I
riva led the world 's best
trackmen as
1
raced around my
imagined half-mile track, only to
awake exhausted and fever ish.
As the days dragged into weeks
and the weeks into months,
I
asked
myself, "What should
l
do?" Then
carne the resolution to draw again.
I
would devote a ll my time - God
knows
1
had that and more to spare
- to drawing.
1
was very deler–
mined, in spi te of my supersensitive
hand;
J
pitched into things like a
fighling Ma rine and seemed to find
a peace of mind in drawing. Now,
whenever l am drawing my car–
toons,
1
feel that God is near me,
guiding my "supersensi tive hand,"
making my every pen stroke seem
less pain fu l and less laborious.
While going to a crippled chil–
dren's school, my teacher and the
principal encouraged me to take up
commercial a rt.
l
was talenled, they
told me. Their sta ff nurse took a
personal interest in me and would
help me exercise my legs and hands.
very often coming to our home a nd
giving me more of her time to aid
me.
The sincere interest in me and my
work gave me much needed encour–
agement, which made me want to
prove myself in sorne way, so that
their etforts would not be wasted.
Wi th their kind and considerare as–
sistance and patient understanding,
l
gained much knowledge about
health as well as my art.
1
learned
that both go hand in hand; a busy
mind makes for a healthy body. As
1
struggled over my drawings, friends
and relat ives called and the adjec–
tives slopped around in a pea soup
of sympathy.
1
soon discovered that sympathy
does not pay off in dividends. My
determination did. I sold my first
cartoon to
Cappers Farmer
in 1938.
This was the first ray of sunshine in
my overcast life and gave me con–
fidence to continue drawing.
33