Musician, heal thyself: Tony (Muggs) DeNardo's journey from stroke and back

At the turn of this millennium, Tony (Muggs) DeNardo was in his late 20s and strong as an ox. He worked 60-hour weeks scrapping steal, digging ditches in record-breaking time. He played bass in two bands, one of which—the blues-based rock ‘n’ roll outfit The Muggs—was about to record its first album. He had recently run a marathon without training.

Tony was at work one day when he found he was suddenly unable to speak; in a matter of minutes, loss of movement in his right side ensued and he was rushed to the ER.

An immediate cat scan revealed bleeding in the brain and paralysis in the right side of his body. Tony had suffered from a rare hemorrhagic stroke that stats say is fatal 98 percent of the time. Complications, including blood clots in his lungs, followed. Those too are usually fatal.

Throughout the first weeks of what would become two months in the hospital, Tony was fully aware but unable to voice what was happening to him. He was only able to nod his head. His parents were told they would likely lose their son. His dad flew in from California to say goodby. Yet, somewhere amid the myriad tests, machines and the solemn faces of everyone around him, Tony decided he would live.

That Tony survived the stroke was something of a miracle. That he is playing music again—Friday (Jan. 27) at Robusto’s on Mack and regularly at the Tap Room in the Park—is even more remarkable.

As he recovered, however, doctors were skeptical that he would ever learn to walk or speak again. A smile creeps across Tony’s face as he recalls the seeds of his recovery: He taught himself to walk, albeit slowly and with a cane. He began to work daily with physical therapists at the hospital. Blown away by his progress and determination, they taught him exercises he could do alone at night in bed, long after their shifts ended. “The physical part was easy,” Tony says of gradually regaining movement and speech after the near-debilitating effects of the stroke, adding that hard work and athleticism had always come naturally to him. 

Tony eventually left the hospital but was slated to return months later for brain surgery. Because his physical movements were understandably slow, Tony remembers that he had plenty of time to think. He began to visualize his brain healing—literally. As he prepared himself for the procedure, it became Tony’s daily ritual for four months to imagine sopping up the blood that had formed around his brain. He then underwent a pre-surgery angiogram that revealed shocking results: To the absolute astonishment of his doctors, Tony’s brain was completely healed and required no further surgery.

Tony says he has always believed in the validity and power of thoughts. Visualization, he attests, is what enabled him to heal, and ultimately reclaim his life and his music.
 
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Today, a little more than a decade later, Tony has partial movement in his right side. “It’s like a puzzle,” he explains of that side of his body, adding, “Some of the pieces are missing.” Tony can walk well, and he hopes to run again.

Tony’s capacity to play music again has been fundamental to his progress. He says that on that fated ride to the ER during the stroke, one of his main concerns was the shows that The Muggs were slated to play that week. “Spoken like a true musician,” an old friend jokes across the bar during this interview.

Tony’s band mate and best friend since childhood Danny Methric, the Muggs’ lead guitarist, adamantly refused to replace him, stating, “There are no Muggs without Tony.” Thus, the band went on a several year hiatus during his recovery.

Though Tony may never be able to play bass guitar again, he taught himself to transcribe notes from the bass to the piano, and now he plays his bass equivalent on a keyboard. It took months of painstaking practice for several hours a day for Tony to control his right hand enough to play well. Two years after the stroke, Tony played his first public show at the Cadieux Café. Since then, the Muggs have seen national success and a host of European tours. More recently, he and fellow musician friend Dylan Dunbar started a classic rock/soul/blues band, The Blue Collar Boys featuring Jennifer Westwood. In addition, Tony has a solo getup he calls Dude, which he plans to dovetail with a speaking tour in hopes of sharing his story with a national audience. Eventually, he plans to start a foundation for stroke survivors. He also teaches bass guitar lessons in Grosse Pointe and the surrounding area.

Tony still works on healing himself daily. He attends physical therapy three or four times a week for four hours a day, and works out at a local gym on the odd days. He continues to engage in visualization to dispel the blood clots that frequently form in his legs.

He has also taught those close to him who are suffering from cancer and disease how to use visualization as a means of healing. Tony takes a shot of whiskey with Danny and this time, a wide smile breaks across his face. “If you believe it,” he says confidently of the power of self-healing, setting his glass on the bar, “then it’s true.”

Tony DeNardo will play with the Blue Collar Boys featuring Jennifer Westwood at Robusto’s, 9271 Mack, on Friday (Jan. 27) from 9:30 p.m. —1 a.m. The band also plays at the Tap Room, 14915 Charlevoix, on the first and third Sunday of every month. For bass guitar lessons, contact him at tonymuggs@gmail.com.

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