Note-worthy in Plymouth: Rock for RSD

Four years ago, Plymouth South High School senior Sammie Barrett sprained her ankle while dancing ballet. Her doctors thought she must have gotten a small fracture due to the pain she felt afterwards. When an X-ray revealed nothing, however, they diagnosed her with reflex sympathetic dystrophy syndrome, or RSD.

“[RSD] is a chronic nerve condition and it can spread throughout the entire body, landing a person in a wheelchair for the rest of their life,” Barrett said. “It feels like a burning, fiery feeling.”

While Barrett's pain originated in her ankle, she said it has now extended up to her mid-back.

As there is currently no cure for RSD and few people seem to know that it exists, Barrett has held a Rock for RSD concert at for the past three years. The most recent show was on Saturday.

Although the 18-year-old only recently got out of the wheelchair where her extreme pain landed her for five months, with the help of the Plymouth community she was able to put together a show with nine bands from around the area. Charging $10 for tickets to the concert, Barrett said she is typically able to raise about $2,500 for the Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome Association each year.

Joe Goldberg, manager of Memorial Hall, allows Barrett to use the large space for her concerts free of charge, saying that his passion for live music and her desire to spread the word about RSD seemed to fit together naturally.

“When [Sammie] first came to me and asked me about it, I told her that if she could get the bands on board then I would give her the hall and I would pick up the expenses for it,” he said. “She was able to do it, and this is the third year that we have backed her on it.”

Just as Goldberg donates his hall to Barrett, bands from Boston to Cape Cod also come together to offer their time and musical talent every year for Rock for RSD.

Ally Mahoney, who performed at the event with her band Life on Hold, said that she was glad to be part of a concert that brings awareness to the disorder.

“It is a terrible, terrible thing that people have to go through with RSD, so we were just happy to be a part of it,” she said after the show.

Mike McLeavy, who has performed with the John Cherbator Group and Groove Juice for all three years of the concert, said that he finds that most musicians feel the same way as Mahoney and are glad to help out in any way that they can. However, bands that participate also get the benefit of performing in front of a large local audience.

“With the bands that I have talked to over the years, everyone is really in it for the cause,” he said. “They are helping Sam out for the cause, but in return Sam is helping them out by building exposure in different areas and networking with other bands.”

This year, the show attracted about 400 people, but Barrett said that in the future, she wants it to grow even bigger, bringing in more people and bands and promoting an even greater knowledge of RSD.

“I don’t want it to be a 400-person concert,” she said. “I want it to expand. I want more people to know about it. I want more people to hear Rock for RSD and know that it’s for reflex and sympathetic dystrophy.”

As musicians McLeavy and Mahoney both said that their bands would stand behind Barrett for as long as she wants to hold Rock for RSD, Goldberg said that Memorial Hall will be available to her in years to come.

“As long as Sammie has the passion to do it we are going to stand with her to make sure that she is able to,” he said.