It’s 1992. The Celtics aren’t great. The Chicago Bulls are killing it. Me and my mother are living in Dorchester as she’s gone back to school and i’m at Berklee College of Music. We didn’t know it, but these would be the last years we would be together. After this period, we would never again live in the same state..until very recently.

Back then, my days consisted of school, then coming home to practice, and then either hitting the basketball courts for night games under the lights, or staying home and watching the Bulls play with my mother. We never missed a game…a tradition that started while we were still living back in Marshfield.

We were no longer really connected to the town I grew up in (Marshfield Ma.). We were both moving forward towards the eventual fork that would send us on our respective paths.  However we  were still connected to a few people, and that would come to be a life saver. I was starting to have problems with my hands. and forearms. I was noticing weakness and numbness.

      I would come home, hold the keys in one hand while trying to grab the right key to unlock the door. …a seemingly normal task. It was however becoming more and more difficult. I would often drop the keys. I would also drop full cups of coffee etc the second I stopped paying attention to holding it. It was weird.

See, not only was I in spectacular shape from skateboarding and basketball, but I was also very used to injuring myself and dealing with said injuries because of those activities. I was always really in touch with my body. I knew how to rehabilitate it on a basic level. I also somehow knew when I could push it through the pain and when I had to give it rest. This, was entirely different. Nothing worked.  It was just getting steadily worse.

I mentioned it to my mother and she in turn mentioned in passing to one of her good friends she was still in touch with from Marshfield. This woman had major back issues, walked with a cane, and had been going to someone that was helping through everything. She spoke very highly of him. His name was Dr. Leaf. He was a chiropractor but also a Kinesiologist…meaning he not only dealt with hard tissue (bones) but also soft tissue..the muscles around them.

I was a little freaked out by the concept of chiropractics because i’d seen people cracking necks into place and such in movies, but I decided to give it a try.

  So me and my mother head down to his practice in Plymouth. They call us in and we head into his office. Now keep in mind, I was not the laid back, nature loving, go with the flow person I am now. Quite the contrary.   

I was starting to have problems playing saxophone because of my throat, so that was starting to build tension. I was living in the city, absorbed in hip hop/basketball/football culture. I was 200 lbs, and  jacked with very little fat on me. Preferred outfits outside of school consisted of sick sneakers, various jerseys, a handkerchief on the dome, and a gold chain.

    I was aggressive…not scared of anything..to the point of probably being too confrontational at times. Lost me a few teeth actually. But when you roll like that, you get what you get, and you most often deserve it. I know…super hard to picture considering the person I now am.

    This day, I stand before Dr Leaf in a Dark blue bandana, silver chain,  a dark blue Deon Sanders Cowboys Jersey (which I still have), and some Jordans. i took the jersey off as I was entering so he could actually see my body. He asks me what’s happening. I tell him. He asks me to stand up straight.

I remember thinking damn this dude is direct…like nothing extra. No niceties or subtleties..almost like a cop. You know how once you get to know a cop, you can almost always spot one just from how they speak?….That thing. Very close to it

I follow orders and stand up straight. He goes “I know what’s wrong either you”. Keep in mind, he hasn’t moved from the other side of the room. I’m like, there’s no friggin way this dude sees me for under a minute and knows what’s happening with me. So I call BS and say “No way”. He then walks across the room to me, puts his hand on my shoulder, and says “This hurts”. I’m like “umm yeah!” He then takes my right arm, grabs my forearm, and presses his thumb into the muscle at the top pf it. He says “That hurts”.  Me: “Yes!…and like stop touching me dude” LOL.

He then says ok, hold your arm out straight in front of you. At this point I ask “Why?”, because this guy appears to also be a specialist in pain. He simply says, i’m going to push it down. I saw “No way”, i’m too strong for you. So cocky was I back then

He proceeds to push it down and even allows himself to almost smile as he does it. I’m shocked but not believing yet, and at least there was no pain involved in that. He then says “make a fist” I once again ask why, and he says i’m going to open up your fist. I laughed and said absolutely not dude. I may struggle with subtle motions but i’m still strong overall.

He says “really?” as he opens up my fist like it’s nothing. He full on smiled at this point..kind of like the Kung Fu master in the Kill Bill movies.  I was like, this guy is nuts..but I was starting to believe him. He put me on the bed and cracked my back a few different ways. Then he did the whole neck cracking thing, and that was crazy, but it went fine. I believe me then aggressively massaged my shoulders, and then the muscles under my shoulder blades.

The whole process took maybe 10 minutes. He then asks me to get up. He says “hold out your arm”.  I now knew the drill, so I held it out. He couldn’t push it down. I say dude you’re faking. He says “make a fist”. I do it, and he can’t open it. I say “You’re faking” LOL. He says “i’m not. go grab your keys”. I do it, and low and behold, while not perfect I have feeling and dexterity back.

He told me that my chest and stomach (which I took great pride in and worked on all the time at the gym), were so developed, and my back was under developed, so I was actually pinching nerves and cutting off blood flow

I was shocked, humbled, and beyond grateful. From this point on, I knew this was my guy, and it was that day that our 30+ year relationship began. Through years of basketball…and even more years of searching for the way to go higher, faster, and look prettier on my board…and through even more saxophone related things….he singlehandedly kept me together physically, and at times mentally. He led me through all of it.   

Other than my family, this guy was one of the most important people in my life. He had such a profound on me, and only seeing me every two months or so…and I did that for maintenance, because i’m apparently still really good at un-aligning myself.

    I write this, because it’s become public that he is retiring effective immediately, and he deserves his story to be told.

Even though I have become much more aware that so many of the things I care for are coming to the end of their line, it was still a shock. I’ve come to think that there are some things that we’ll never be ready for despite our efforts.

 I’m hoping that i can forward this to him so he see’s it, because while i’ve joked with him saying things like “i’m going to be screwed when you retire”, i’m not sure he knows how important he was to me and undoubtedly others.

I’ve never been good at telling people that until recently and i’ve been trying to make up for lost time…to be better. It’s just hard that when i’m finally getting my shit together, I don’t seem to have the time I want left with the people and things that matter.

I will miss his chats and alignments.

I just wanted to share the story of a great person and say thank you one last time for everything.

Thank you Dr Leaf.

I could not have done all the things i’ve done without you.

James