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by Jacki Garland as told to Joanna Powellby Jacki Garland as told to Joanna Powell

When Broadway dancer–turned–Pilates instructor Jacki Garland lost her leg, a future without movement seemed

unthinkable. But thanks to her method training—and a will of steel—she’s healthy, mobile and still has the powerhouse

of a leading lady!

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RYWhen I first met Romana Kryzanowska in the early 1980s, I didn’t even know she was involved with Pilates. My daughters, Jessica and Samantha Gazzola, along with Romana’s granddaughter, Daria Pace, began to take ballet from Romana in a small class she taught at the iconic Ansonia Hotel on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. From the start, I was aware that I was in the presence of an extraordinary woman. But little did I know then that Romana and I would develop a decades-long friendship and that she would ultimately rescue me from financial woes, life-threatening health problems and the amputation of my right leg.

Born to Dance Growing up in Lawrence, Kansas, I loved movement. I studied ballet, tap, jazz and acrobatics. My mother went overboard trying to help me and my sister, Trish Garland, become dancers. To pay for lessons, Mother did the dance teacher’s laundry and we cleaned the studio. I came to New York City at 19 primed to make it on stage. Four months after arriving, I landed my first part on Broadway, as a semi-soloist in Zizi with the French ballet star Zizi Jeanmarie; I later toured with the company in South Africa, which was wildly exciting and worldly beyond my dreams.

A wealth of roles followed: My first TV appearance was dancing with Tom Jones on The Ed Sullivan Show. In 1970, I was cast as a replacement in Promises, Promises with Jerry Orbach and then played Lizette in the original Broadway production of The Happy Time with Robert Goulet. I also toured with a number of companies, including Applause, Applause. I was thrilled to be working with marquee actors and top choreographers, doing what I loved. In 1973, my sister Trish and I participated in the first taped sessions of what would become the basis for the landmark Broadway musical A Chorus Line, which was directed and choreographed by Michael Bennett. Trish and I both auditioned for the production. She snagged the role of Judy Turner, but I didn’t make the cut—not then. It wasn’t my time.

The Next Act Instead, my life went in a different direction when in, 1976, I married my longtime beau Peter Gazzola in a magical wedding in Central Park’s Conservatory Garden. I believe I may have been the first bride to get married in the park. Two years later, I had my first daughter, Jessica, and when she was two, my daughter, Samantha, was born. As a dancer myself, I wanted my children to experience dance at a young age and they were lucky to have Romana as their teacher. It wasn’t just a ballet class; it was so imaginative. They did traditional moves, but they also ran and jumped over rivers made from scarves and played Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad

Wolf. There was always a live pianist. Romana lived in a fifth-floor walk up, which fit with her quest to be healthy and active. It wasn’t a huge apartment, but her mother had been a painter so it was an artistic environment. She loved sharing, cooking and throwing parties with lots of storytelling.

New Challenges When I was 40, I finally got my shot at A Chorus Line. I went to Los Angeles to play the part of Christine in a production that my sister was directing. Unfortunately, that’s also when I got the first inkling that trouble was brewing in my body. I developed an ulcer on my finger that wouldn’t heal; whenever I accidentally hit it on stage, I would be in excruciating pain.

A doctor there diagnosed me with Raynaud’s disease (a circulatory disorder that causes your fingers, toes, nose and ears to feel numb and turn white in response to cold or stress). He also noticed a “butterfly mask”— redness in the shape of wings on each side of my nose. It’s a telltale sign of lupus, so he suggested I see a rheumatologist when I got back to New York. That doctor was vague about my condition. These are both autoimmune diseases that are hard to pin down. At the time, the symptoms were more of a nuisance than a disability.

Meanwhile, another challenge came along to distract me. We had just bought our

FROM TOP: GARLAND GUIDING HER DAUGHTER, JESSICA GAZZOLA, AT PILATES MOD BOD STUDIO IN WINTER PARK, FL; GARLAND’S DAUGHTER SAMANTHA GAZZOLA (FAR LEFT), JACKI, ROMANA KRYZANOWSKA AND JESSICA GAZZOLA IN 2000; WITH ROMANA IN 1996 AT ROMANA’S NEW YORK STUDIO

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Manhattan apartment when my husband lost his job as a salesman. Our expenses tripled and suddenly we had no income. I told Romana and her daughter Sari Mejia-Santo about our predicament. I still didn’t know anything about Pilates. Despite this, they knew that as a dancer I understood the body and how to move. So Romana said, “Come and I’ll show you how to do Pilates! You can learn to teach.” That’s when I began to apprentice with her. She’d show me an exercise, then she’d say, “Okay, now go over there and teach that to that client.” Teaching with Romana on a daily basis, I was able to master the Pilates repertoire by listening, watching, questioning and always practicing, practicing, practicing. I worked with Romana in the New York studio on and off for 10 years. It was a wonderful time and we worked hard. There was always champagne and on Friday afternoons, we’d pop the bubbly and then go right back to teaching.

Going SoloIn 1995, my world fell apart when I lost my husband to lung cancer. By this point, doctors had also confirmed that I had lupus, so I had to be more concerned with what would be good for my family. In 1997, I accepted a job working with performing artists as head of the Pilates program at the Orlando Regional Rehab in Florida. Unfortunately, the rehab facility closed in 1999. So I decided to open my first studio—in my two-bedroom apartment—where the Cadillac and Wunda Chairs became our living room furniture at night.

Both of my daughters also developed an interest in Pilates. They each studied with Romana and became certified in 1999. Around the same time, Romana appointed me a Level III teacher. In 2000, with the help of two dedicated clients, we opened our studio in Windermere, FL, named Pilates Mod Bod Studio. Eight years ago, we moved to charming Winter Park, FL, where we are now. (Check out Mod Bod at www.pilatesmodbodstudio.com.)

Devastating NewsIn 2009, I hadn’t been feeling great, always getting chilly and experiencing numbness in my foot. My daughter, Jessica, suggested I get some blood work done. A week later, I was teaching Pilates at the studio when she called me and said they had received my results. I had a dangerously low 3.5

hemoglobin count (the normal range is 12 to 15). She said, “They don’t know how you’re standing up. You have to get to the hospital.” I insisted they’d misread it. But, no, they hadn’t. And that is when the fun began. At the hospital, I received several blood transfusions, which saved my life. My foot, however, became dark, discolored and increasingly painful. Eventually a rheumatologist determined that I had another serious disease called scleroderma. With this condition, the body creates too much collagen, which hardens and scars the vascular system, internal organs and skin. It was destroying my right leg. My surgeon, Dr. John Horowitz, had also been a Pilates client so he understood how important my legs were to me. But caring as he was, he had to break the news that they needed to amputate part of my leg. He said he would try to keep as much of my calf as possible. I really couldn’t believe this was happening to me. And at the same time I was in excruciating pain and on such strong medication that I would almost fall out of bed. I think the only thing that got me through was learning that my older daughter, Jessica, was pregnant with her son, Devon. We had so much joy to look forward to and yet I was so devastated.

From Bad to WorseIn June 2009, I had the amputation. Because of my autoimmune diseases, the wound didn’t heal. It turned dark and necrotic, so I had to go back to surgery and have my leg cut a little shorter. But again I didn’t heal.

Medics repeatedly had to scrape out dead tissue, which was gruesome and painful beyond belief. I am a practicing Nichiren Buddhist with Soka Gakkai International (a world peace organization), which helped me stay positive and overcome all these obstacles. During this ordeal, I would chant Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo (which means devotion to the mystic law of cause and effect through sound) to help me overcome my pain. Dr. Horowitz would chant with me during the procedures. It was comforting to have that support.

In all, I had to have three surgeries and recover from a serious infection of the bone before my leg healed. Then, when I finally got my prosthesis, I couldn’t wear it because it was pressing on the bone and causing me pain. I ended up having a fourth surgery to have the bone cut yet again. It wasn’t until late 2010 that I was able to put my leg on and begin learning to walk with it. The prosthesis is very heavy, about five pounds, because it contains a pump to help with my circulation problems.

Motivation to Get MovingMy baby grandson, Devon, was becoming more active by that time, so I was determined to get my mobility back in order to keep up with him. After a lot of hard work I was walking and even teaching some. The core is integral to balance, and having a strong core helped me master the prosthesis faster, even though it was so heavy. It also gave me the strength to lift my leg. My prosthetist was amazed at my progress, as was everyone at the rehab facility.

Another Setback In January 2011, we were overjoyed when my other daughter, Samantha, had her first baby, Zoelle. And then, wouldn’t you know, I had another catastrophe. While leaving a local store, I fell off my scooter and broke my hip. Doctors fitted me with a spica brace, a removable holster-like contraption that helped my bones fuse, but made me immobile for about three months. When the spica brace was removed, I graduated to a bone stimulator, which I wore for three hours a day for eight months. During that time, I gently began to move my right leg. The atrophied muscles were very painful, but thankfully my daughters are acupuncturists and were able to help alleviate my discomfort.

A Turning Point To speed my recovery as I got stronger, I began to do Pilates at home in my bed when I woke up in the morning, strengthening my legs with Side-Kicks and Leg Lifts and Circles. During the day, I stood holding the

countertops and did relevés and pliés while keeping my posture very erect. It helped my core, my thighs, everything. It’s been a slow comeback but I’m pretty strong now. I walk with a cane; I try to walk around the house without it, though I have to be careful that I don’t fall and break anything again. I teach two or three days a week, go to physical therapy and take care of my grandchildren—Devon, now three, and Zoelle, two—who keep me on my toes.

I just got a wonderful new foot, called an “energy foot”. It has an adaptable heel height (up to two inches), which means I don’t have to wear sneakers all the time. I can be a bit stylish in my old age! This is a great testimonial for Pilates because for a long time I didn’t have the strength to use an energy foot. But now that I’ve gotten stronger, I’m able to walk on it and it propels me forward.

Walk Like a QueenI work out both with my prosthesis and without. I can do many Pilates exercises on the Cadillac and Reformer. I do miss being able to hang at the end of a session. I now tell myself what I’ve always told my clients: “Pilates is a work in progress and you can’t get discouraged. Be patient with yourself! Pilates is the fountain of youth. It’s the gravity buster!” I always remember Romana saying, “Lift your chest high as though you are wearing a sparkling jewel” and another, “When you push off from the wall, walk like a queen, elegant and tall.”

My daughters and I will always be grateful for the gift of Pilates and will forever treasure our friendship with Romana, Sari and Daria. The keys to my healing during these catastrophic times have been my loving family, my Buddhist practice and Pilates. Romana remains an inspiration to me and I still hear her voice in my head. Together, all three promote my health, longevity and give me the courage to know I can surmount any obstacle. PS

“Pilates is a work in progress and you can’t get discouraged. Be patient with yourself!”

OPPOSITE PAGE:

PRACTICING AN ARABESQUE ON THE REFORMER.THIS PAGE: THE NEXT GENERATION: JACKI WITH HER GRANDCHILDREN, DEVON, 3 (RIGHT), AND ZOELLE, 2.