Tony DeBlois barely weighed one pound at birth. When his mother, Janice, was asked by her doctor, “Should we save him?” she had a simple answer. “I’ve lost the first five. So, yes, save my son.”

Administered pure oxygen, Tony was blinded. And then he displayed all the classic signs of autism: rocking, spinning, echolalia, acute sound-sensitivity.

As he passed the age of two, Tony still couldn’t walk, much less even sit up. Then Janice bought him a little toy piano, so his back could be braced by the tiny seat incorporated into the instrument. One day, she heard from the next room the tinkling of a children’s song, “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” She thought she had left the TV on.

Imagine her surprise when she saw the source of the song. It was Tony, hunched over his little piano, playing it, blind.

Today Tony plays 23 instruments and has a repertoire of more than 20,000 songs. He sings with perfect pitch and perfect enunciation in 11 languages. He’s produced a dozen albums, he’s got his own jazz band and he regularly performs professionally. Janet is still his outlet to the world, leading him by hand so he can get to his piano at his concerts around the United States and overseas.

He didn’t speak a word until he was 15 years old. But in 1996 Tony graduated magna cum laude from the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

Janice was there for him every step of the way. Now, at 42, Tony is the breadwinner in the family. And he says it feels so good.

Tony has composed music for the Fierce Love and Art soundtrack.

Tony’s website: http://www.tonydeblois.com/