A PERSISTENT, POSITIVE PIANIST
Lacoursiere’s determination to overcome injury is inspiring, writes Matt Olson.
Irene Lacoursiere moved her piano into her basement when the sight of it became too much to bear.
Since a difficult head injury in 2017, the longtime piano player, teacher and accompanist has been struggling to play the instrument she’d based her life around. It was seemingly innocuous at the time; Lacoursiere was diagnosed with a concussion and tried to soldier through the injury to keep playing for her students.
But her symptoms worsened, to the point that hearing music — or trying to play it — caused physical illness, from dizziness to vomiting to fainting. She was eventually diagnosed with a condition called bilateral superior semicircular canal dehiscence, caused by damage to the superior semicircular canal in the inner ear. It can cause severe symptoms or no symptoms at all, is rare enough that it’s tough to diagnose and even tougher to treat. And it has kept her from playing her beloved piano.
I met Lacoursiere through a mutual friend after I followed up on a notification for a benefit concert in the city to raise money for her to continue seeking treatment. When my photographer and I visited her house, she was kind and cheerful, offering us lemonade or ice water as we sat outside to do the interview.
Once Lacoursiere started describing her experiences with a condition she struggled to define, symptoms that upended her way of life, and doctors who offered no solutions, the frustration came out — and the fear and sadness that this would be a permanent part of her life.
In researching the piece, I reached out to medical experts across the country — but none could make themselves available at the time to speak on the condition. There are surgical options, but Lacoursiere had been told she wasn’t a good candidate for that. I spoke to a concussion expert in Saskatoon who said Lacoursiere’s symptoms could be caused by the concussion, but it was almost impossible to determine for sure.
Lacoursiere mentioned the holidays as a particularly hard time of year, and described a moment last year when she walked into a store playing loud Christmas music that caused her to faint. I love the holidays, and I love to sing — and the thought of not being able to experience any of that in the same way is gut-wrenching.
But even as Lacoursiere voiced her fears — that there may not be a solution, that this new reality was permanent — she cracked jokes. She smiled, she laughed, and she stayed upbeat. It left me thinking: would I be able to have that same kind of optimism if this happened to me? If something most of us take for granted every day suddenly made me physically ill, and no one could do anything about it, how would I react?
Before I became a journalist I obtained a music degree at the University of Saskatchewan, so I felt like I could relate to Lacoursiere, at least a little. Music is an inextricable part of who I am, but while it’s part of my life, it’s not how I make my living. Lacoursiere’s potential loss is that much deeper.
I reached out to Lacoursiere once December rolled around, and it sounds like there is cause for even more optimism after a second opinion from a neurotologist. While they aren’t completely sure what’s causing the symptoms, there is some hope that Lacoursiere’s canal dehiscence is not the cause of her symptoms. Like I said earlier, it’s apparently a difficult condition to nail down. Meeting Lacoursiere and hearing her story showed me how important it is to have hope. Call it stubbornness or call it determination, but her drive to find a solution and get back to the life she’s always known is absolutely inspiring.
Hopefully, that piano in the basement can move back into its old home soon.