At nine years old Joni Mitchell contracted polio.

Some time in the fall she was admitted to a hospital 100 miles from home, and her doctor hinted that she would never be able to walk again – that she would forever be paralyzed by the same disease that had confined him to a wheelchair. But being a small child, Mitchell’s primary concern was making it home for Christmas, which the doctor said was unlikely given her current inability to walk. She said, “Well, what if I walked?” to which he replied, “You can’t even stand up.” So she pressed on, “Well, what if I stood and walked?” The doctor didn’t argue. He only heaved a heavy sigh and rolled himself out of the room.

Over her lifetime Joni Mitchell has often been referred to as stubborn, but perhaps persistent is a better depiction. In that hospital room adorned with a glowing Christmas tree, she laughed in the face of what many considered an impossible feat.

The doctors began physical therapy – trying to stretch her muscles and build her strength, all the while holding the belief that she would likely never again walk of her own volition. The physical therapy was a painful process. “My spine was twisted up like a train wreck,” Mitchell said, “I couldn’t walk. I was paralyzed.” But she pressed on. When Mitchell was alone in her hospital bed, she continually worked on her legs in the soft glow of the Christmas tree lights, and eventually she told the doctors she wanted to try and walk. So they wheeled her into a room with chrome bars, hoisted her up, and she walked from one end to the other on her own, using the chrome bars as support. “Now can I go home?” she asked.

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At only nine years old, Joni Mitchell battled polio and won. “It’s the fighting Irish, eh?” she said. Fueled by a fiery determination within her and comforted by a Christmas tree lights’ glow, she taught herself to walk again.

As a child Mitchell had been a runner and athlete but because the polio stripped her of her speed and vigor, she leaned heavily into the arts, becoming one of the world’s most beloved musicians and prolific artists. She was redirected to a path that better suited her – one that allowed her unique gift to be shared with the world and enabled her creative expression to speak to and touch the lives of so many. What would the world look like if Joni Mitchell hadn’t battled polio in that hospital room? Would we have her music? Would her artistry have impacted as many lives as it has?

At twenty years old, Mitchell left Western Canada for Toronto to become a folk singer, writing her first original song on the train ride. She released her first record at twenty five and, through the years, gained esteem and renown not only by her colleagues in the industry but by the world. “I was a broken doll,” Mitchell said, reflecting on her once twisted spine. That brokenness was her catalyst. A catalyst that corrected her trajectory and led her down the path she’d always been destined to take. And just like that, a broken doll transformed into a powerful and passionate woman whose creative expression will continue to echo through the generations to come.

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