Piano player shows she's a real Champ

[attach]767[/attach]When Riverdale resident Julianna Romanyk plays the piano, crowds are thrilled by more than just the music.

That’s because the 12-year-old was born with three fingers on her right hand and only one finger on the other.

“I don’t really know what fingers I have and don’t have,” she said.

Julianna has a birth condition called Fibular Hemimelia. In addition to missing fingers she wears leg braces, as she has no fibula bones in her legs.

But at her spring piano recital held by the Children’s War Amps in Kingston she showed a crowd of 150 amputees that what she lacked physically, she more than made up for in passion and dedication.

“She captivated the (War Amps) Champs with her pure raw talent and ability,” said Rob Lamar, a War Amps director and amputee.
The performance was part of the Amputees in Action program, which encourages participants to demonstrate how they have to overcome their unique challenges.

Julianna performed renditions of “Vive la Vida” by Cold Play and Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train”. She also played an original composition, entitled “Birds”.

Julianna said her interest in music was piqued early in life, but it wasn’t until she began taking weekly piano lessons in 2007 that her talent blossomed. Her mother, Handzia Feloniuk, cites the early support of Champs as the key to her success.

“They made it possible for her to get over it and get on with her life,” Feloniuk said. “They taught her not to be oppressed by her condition.”

In addition to subsidizing the cost of her leg braces, Champs helped the family by providing counseling and introducing them to other amputees.

Shortly after she was born, Champs paired Julianna and her mother with Lisa Butler, an older amputee with no hands at all. Feloniuk said the program helped her and Julianna anticipate problems and overcome obstacles.

Butler now holds a master’s degree and works as a public administrator.

“What we learned (from her) time and time again is that things will work out in the end,” Feloniuk said.

While Julianna also loves to write short stories and play soccer, it’s when she sits at the piano that her creativity is liberated.

“That’s the great thing about music,” she said. “With piano you can just create any style. There’s no limit.

“You just poke a key and it makes music.”

It may come as no surprise that one of her musical heroes is Stevie Wonder. Like the blind piano player, Julianna refuses to accept her difference as a limitation.

“The only thing I can’t do is use the monkey bars,” she said. “My left hand is too weak. My right hand could do it though, it’s tough.”
Julianna’s mother agrees.

“She can do 95 to 98 percent of what other kids can do,” she said. “And the percent she is missing she makes up for with effort.”

Her unique hands have also made Julianna a good judge of character.

“You can tell personalities by (people’s) reaction to my hands,” she said.

While some peers fawn over her unique hands, on other occasions, they have been less than civil.

“It’s interesting to see the extreme positions people take because of my hands. But I don’t want to be known because of (them).”

When asked what she would like to be known for, Julianna answered as any 12-year-old would.

“I’d like to be a musician, but if that doesn’t work, I’ll settle for being a writer.”