Anton Novak

“I was like everybody else just yesterday”. That is the beginning of my story. My life was always going round and round the music and sport. My father was a football trainer. I felt the football imaginations in my head since my early age and so I soon became a member of the football club.

I’m always the kind of man that has to try everything he can and so I began to play my sister’s guitar at the age of 10. I tried to play, as a self-made musician, my icons from the world of music. Together with a couple of friends being close to my music soul we’ve created the garage group where I improved my player and singing skills.

At the age of 15 I had to stop playing football because of the study duties. At the time of studying I was also a goalkeeper in ice hockey club. I’ve ended up the studying to become decorator and wall hanger and I did that job since finishing the school.

After the study time had passed, I worked for the company for two years. Then I had to begin the army service. Two years of hard drill. And now MS. Sad experience. At that time I used to think about the cause of the illness I had. Was it caused by the hard work I did, the often exhaustion I experienced? Well there’s nothing to mourn about. Everywhere I went I met good people, I made a lot of good friends and got worthwhile experiences for the future life. When I came back to civil life I changed the occupation. I used to work at various structures and after that I began working in the underground. I worked in a mine instead. I always liked hard work, it suited me and luckily I had a chance to pull out my overloaded energy.

At that time members of “The runner” group visited me and I offered me a trial of singing in the group. The new challenges has always knocked me up rather that be frightening for me. And once again I made couple of good new friends singing some brilliant concerts with them. Later, when the illness has struck, it showed to be more than the friendship.

In the beginning of the 90s (1992) I met a beautiful black haired young woman with nice big eyes. We married and later we had two children. A year after marriage I was laid off from the previous workplace so I had to look for another job. I found one in Czech Republic but I found it hard, I couldn’t work at heights because of vertigos. Why? The lack of hard work seemed to me as possible explanation at the beginning. It was fault. Now I know. I sometimes stumbled across the straight and nice pavement, had stiffed limbs, and all the other clear signals of the illness I knew nothing about. It all signalised to my deceased mother that something was wrong.

I listened to her advice to visit a doctor. My local MD was very professional and quick. He immediately told me to see the specialist, a neurologist in near town of Levoca. Then I had realised why our doctors deserve admiration and appreciation. Big attention was paid to my health there. I went through a number of follow-ups. They just weren’t answering my question. “What’s the problem with my body”? They didn’t want to make fault predictions so they just answered “further investigation is needed”. On the regular check-ups in hospital I heard questions like “don’t you have any headache?” It tanned me in notion that there must be something wrong with my head. I have to admit the fear I felt. Is there any tumour? The lumbar puncture was performed on my back and then I went for MRI to Bratislava. Once before I was building that hospital but I’ve never imagined being a patient there. Two days before Christmas the head of neurological hospital in Levoca told me “you have one very bad illness – multiple sclerosis”. I got my Christmas gift. My father was there with me and his first reaction to it was the question about the surgery. He also knew nothing about MS. The MD’s answer was: “there won’t help any surgery!” I was just laughing, there isn’t any tumour. Everything happened just because the lack of information about MS. I’m not mourning - it could be worse. Just later I realized what had happened. Just when I saw that I couldn’t play football with my son or to play the games with daughter where jumping is needed or I couldn’t play other games which demand quick movements. At that times I didn’t guess that sometime in the future I won’t be able even to stand on my own legs, won’t go down to mine, kick a ball or won’t skate anymore. Those times were psychically hard for me. When I was walking with the help of a stick, I was always outside the house. But when it all got worse, I locked myself inside and I was thinking a lot.

Just my friend, bass guitar player from the group “The runner”, got me out of house and offered me singing “Metalica’s” songs. Later he commuted 30 kilometres even 4 times a week just to help me. Even today I’m very thankful to him. But destiny has once again showed its presence. In February of 2000 at 03:00 in the morning the death of my brother in law was announced to me. He died at the fulfilling of army duties at Slovak frontier. I couldn’t come to life for almost a year and another family tragedy has struck my life. My mother died after hart disease on the 23rd of December 2003. A year later my father started taking dialysis appointments. Beside this he is a rheumatic patient and has also other diseases. On the year of 2005 he had his left leg amputated. Those are the times when we think that we suffer the most but we do not mention the world around us. I want to mention the situations like the children suffering from hunger in Ethiopia, earthquake disaster in Turkey or Tsunami devastation in Malaysia. The thousands die there, the millions suffer there not just individual. Suddenly our suffering seems to be just the drop of water in the sea of pain and misery. And then the friend comes to give his helping hand regardless of any valuable payback. I’m fortunate to have such great friends.

Being in hospital I was visited by the chairwoman of our city MS club. We were chatting about the possibility to organize the beneficial concert. The idea of PwMS singing there seemed right during our chatting. I remembered the friends from the music group and addressed them. The guitarist and brain from our “The runner” music group reacted quickly without demanding any fee and organized the whole concert.

We made an order for the lyrics. The lyrics, originally made for us, were good but I wasn’t satisfied with them so I started putting my own thoughts and feelings on the paper. My friend composed the music and so he gave life to the song. When I was writing the lyrics I hadn’t realized a strong impression it would make on surrounding audience, even I was crying. Not one eye stayed dry. A television was also there so we made late news shot for television about concert. I spilled out a bit of my broken heart on shoulder of TV editor there. Then he found out what I was dreaming of. He then fulfilled my dream to come back to High Tatras, the highest mountain in Slovakia. I, barely walking on the plain ground, was suddenly walking the steep mountain in the height of 1751 above the sea level watching as Slovakia is lying beneath my disabled legs. I realized that nothing is impossible when you have the right friends at your side.


I thank everyone who spent even a minute of their life just to help me, to care about my thoughts. I thank my bellowed wife Žaneta, two beautiful children – son Tomas and daughter Petra, to my father, siblings and to all the other family members and friends. I thank also the chairwoman of our MS club in town of Levoca, for establishing the club and spending so much time creating the club’s activities.

Though life wasn’t always nice to me, I’m not complaining. I always take it as it is. Everybody can improve his life by positive thinking and by realizing that nobody lives life just for themselves but for others that are around as well.

The song I was writing for you PwMS,
For everybody to realize that we want to live as well,
Give us your pure hand,
Help us with your advice,
We’ll go step by step,
With the lifted head.

Conclusion: Please think about those who cannot go out for a walk anymore, they cry silently at home. But nobody knows when it comes their time to stay at home or to leave and meet the deceased. They are our conscience.

If you would like to contact Anton please send your message to info@msif.org and we will pass on your e-mail.