Woodbury Teen Fights CMT with Music

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(Note to all: Remember, CMT IS not A 'form of muscular dystrophy!)

Woodbury Teen Fights Muscular Dystrophy with Music

Amble, 15, releases piano album on iTunes

http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/dpp/health/woodbury-teen-fights-muscular-dystroph\

y-with-music-mar-2-2011

Updated: Wednesday, 02 Mar 2011, 11:43 PM CST

Published : Wednesday, 02 Mar 2011, 11:43 PM CST

by Rob Olson / FOX 9 News

WOODBURY, Minn. - Any parent who sees a talent emerging in their children -- be

it with a hockey stick or a piano -- wants to do everything they can to help

that gift grow, but when something comes along and threatens everything a child

has worked so hard to achieve, it's difficult to know how to react. Yet, for

15-year-old Amble, of Woodbury, his personal challenge has only made him

set his sights higher.

" I just thought to myself, `I kind of want to write music. Other people write

music. I kind of want to write music,' " said Amble.

The beauty of music is something that is felt -- and when a 15-year-old can play

and compose like Amble can, it's easy to feel it -- and his is certainly a story

about feeling.

" I sat down, I fiddled with some notes and I wrote a song, " Amble explained.

Amble's story began in a Russian orphanage, where his parents met him at age 3.

" You could just about cry because it was sort of sad and sort of special to know

that was our child, " said Becky Amble. " And yet, none of us knew what to do. "

After bringing back home to become an American, they soon came to know that

he was a fast learner as he soon began speaking English.

" He picked up everything really, really quickly, " said Becky Amble. " Of course,

we thought, `Man, this kid is something else! "

The piano lessons began soon after he settled in as a Minnesotan thanks to the

Ambles' insistence on a musical education.

Now, melodies pour from the piano as plays and it's easy to realize he has

some amazing -- and now challenging -- years ahead of him.

Becky Amble said had tremors in his hands even in the orphanage and would

sometimes walk on his toes, but the family never considered them problems until

a diagnosis came a few years ago.

" When I first heard it, I just cried and cried -- and I said, `God, just don't

take his music away because that means a lot to him, " she said.

got perhaps the worst news a musician can get when he was diagnosed with

specific form of muscular dystrophy called Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease. Though

the disease won't kill him, it is incurable and can take the feeling from his

feet and hands if he lets it.

" To keep it under control I have to exercise and I have to stretch, "

explained.

It's ironic that the disease that threatens his talent is best fought by using

it.

" For the hands, playing the piano exercises them, actually, " he said.

Still, he's not letting the disease get in his way and is keeping things in

perspective.

" Other kids got it way worse, you know, " he said. " They're in wheelchairs,

they're in hospital beds. "

That knowledge of others fighting a similar battle led Amble to create his

first CD with three original compositions.

" This could be his purpose in life -- to help others, and without MD he might

not find his purpose, " said Becky Amble.

is now selling his CD on his own website and through iTunes, and at

fundraisers at church and school. With each sale, he donates a dollar with the

goal of raising one million. So far, he's raised about $6,000. See

http://www.alexamblemusic.com/home.html

" Raising money -- I didn't think that I would ever do this, and now I am, " he

said.

Now, said he's hoping to make a difference one sale at a time, helping

other kids fighting the disease while keeping the feeling in his talented

fingers.

" I've changed as a person, let's just say that, " he said.

" I hope that he learns to accept himself. I hope he appreciates his talent. I

hope he appreciates what a difference he can make, " said Becky Amble.