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Strength from within: Man braves disease to see musical through
FATHER'S DRIVE TO WRITE DESPITE WEAKENING BODY
By Jennifer Martinez
Mercury News
Article Launched: 08/01/2007 01:29:57 AM PDT



Jay Thompson, right, and assistant director Brett Carlson watch Gage Brown, 4,... ( Patrick Tehan )«1234»
Superman was antsy.

He zoomed across the room in his wheelchair to talk with the pianist near the stage, then over to the child actors preparing for their dance number.

He couldn't keep himself still.

"Stop having so much fun!" he joked with the children, though he appeared to be having the most fun of all.

The man in the Superman pajama pants was Jay Thompson. He might be in a wheelchair - unable to leap tall buildings or fly faster than a speeding bullet - but for the first time in more than a year, he will be making music again.

Thompson was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease, more than a year ago. It has cost him the use of his left side, but an electric wheelchair lets him fly when he wants to. "Noah's Ark," the musical he began writing before he was diagnosed with ALS, is about to be performed.

"I didn't care what it was I did this summer, but I knew I had to put on this musical for my dad," said Thompson's oldest daughter, Lindsay, 20.

It took Thompson a year to write and compose the script of "Noah's Ark," and another year for Lindsay to find someone willing to produce it, but Thompson's dream is coming true.

The musical version of the classic Bible tale will debut at 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday at South Hills Community Church in San Jose.

Thirty percent of ticket and DVD sales will go to the Bay Area chapter of the ALS Association, and donation boxes will be
inside of the church for additional contributions.
"I want to show ALS patients that you can keep doing things," Thompson said, "you don't have to sit around your house and wait to die."

A lifelong dream


A trained pianist and vocalist, Thompson began composing at 14 after a pastor overheard him playing piano at his neighborhood church in Willow Glen and told him he had a musical gift.

Although Thompson worked as a senior project manager at AT&T during the day, he spent his evenings leading church choirs and composing songs with his four daughters around their piano in their Almaden home.

But a nagging tremor in Thompson's left hand cut the music short.

"I sensed something was wrong when he couldn't open ketchup packets," said Thompson's wife, TJ, his high school sweetheart from Willow Glen High School. "He plays piano, so he's always been coordinated with his hands."

AT&T let Thompson go after he spent 26 years at the company because he was frequently falling in the office because of the growing weakness in his legs.

During a series of tests at Stanford University Medical Center, Thompson tried and failed to stand on tiptoe. In February 2006, doctors diagnosed him with ALS. He was 44.

ALS is a neurodegenerative disease that affects the nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord, gradually attacking the motor neurons in the body's muscles.

ALS patients generally live two to five years after diagnosis, according to the ALS Association. Twenty percent of patients live five years or more, while only 5 percent survive 20 years or more.

"It was unreal to me," said TJ Thompson of her husband's diagnosis. "I can't imagine my life without him, someone so capable, genius, quick on the ball, and (with) a Tigger-like personality."

Thompson is no longer able to stroke the keys on the piano because he's lost the use of his left hand, and his right is slowly going, too.

Thompson raced to finish the musical while he could still write and ended up composing the final songs with a software program that printed notes on sheet music using a computer keyboard.

The voice that once warmed his Almaden home no longer sings. ALS also affects the muscles that control breathing and speaking. He can now utter only one word per breath.

A family's mission


Lindsay Thompson was determined to have "Noah's Ark" performed this summer given the uncertainty of her father's condition.

It wasn't until she was at home on winter break from the Peabody Institute conservatory at Johns Hopkins University that chance met opportunity. A Christian musical theater camp, Soaring Spirit, interviewed her to be the camp's music director to stage its first summer musical production.

"They were still deciding on a musical for the summer, and I thought, `Should I offer my dad's musical as an option?' " she said.

Hopeful, Lindsay passed the script along to Soaring Spirit's camp director, Jennifer Seguin.

Seguin fell in love with the musical's lyrics, and Thompson's clever humor intertwined within the plot of the classic Biblical tale.

"I thought it was brilliant," Seguin said. "The humor is along the same lines as Pixar movies and `Shrek.' "

Since the beginning of July, the Thompson family and South Hills Community Church have dedicated themselves to making the production a reality.

"Everyone is involved except for the dog," chuckled Thompson.

In addition to Lindsay's musical direction, Jessica Thompson, 18, is designing the programs; Aubrey, 15, is dancing ballet during one of the acts; and Sierra, 11, is the musical's comedic lead. TJ is in charge of ticket sales.

"So many people want to help, all the kids are saying that they want to do this for Mr. Jay," Seguin said.

Most importantly, "Noah's Ark" is a family tribute to Thompson as a father, husband and role model.

"I'll always consider this to be one of my greatest accomplishments," said Lindsay, who was the lead role in Peabody's mainstage opera of "The Marriage of Figaro" and who dreams of singing opera professionally. "The fact that he's strong gives me the strength to be strong as well."

Thompson attends rehearsals for the musical every afternoon with TJ, unless he has a doctor's appointment at the same time.

At rehearsal last Wednesday, Thompson's music was in the air once more. With the help of the 30 children in the cast, Thompson's voice is no longer silenced. He's able to sing again.

"On the first day (of rehearsal) when they learned the first song and dance, it was awesome," he said beaming ear-to-ear. "It's so neat to see it all come to life."


Contact Jennifer Martinez at jmartinez@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5852.
http://www.mercurynews.com/valley/ci_6514212