Painting My Pain Away

If you suffer from chronic pain--and 51 million Americans do--there may be some relief in sight, based on the experience of this 92-year-old, former aerospace engineer, former sports photojournalist, now artist and author. Years of debilitating pain sent Jerry Norton to Mayo Clinic's Pain Rehabilitation Center four years ago. He came out three weeks later with a pain relief therapy as effective as any pain-killing drug, but without dangerous side-effects. And with a near-zero price tag

What he discovered during his time at Mayo was something familiar to any child--the grade-school task of coloring. During a coloring exercise, Norton felt none of his ever-present pain After exchanging crayons for paint and a paint brush and had the same result--no pain.

The relief that painting provided, kept him in front of his easel for hours at a time. With no significant training, and with vision in just one eye, he has become a copy artist with a gallery of more than 500 paintings, many of which populate his recent books.

Said one Jacksonville neurologist and neurosurgeon, "A minor miracle is in store for some readers of this wonderful story."