Renee Katz Remembers

By Claudia Stahl

Almost 20 years have passed since the day Renee Katz, now an OTR, fell asleep on a subway train bound for Harlem while studying King Lear. The accomplished flute player and singer was late that day, and missed the group of friends who usually accompanied her on her long journey to The High School of Music and Art.

The talented teen also missed her stop. In a twist of fate that could not have been better wrought by Shakespeare himself, Katz awoke and departed the train for an unfamiliar subway platform. In a flash, her life changed. Pushed from the platform onto the tracks, Katz instinctively rolled to her left to avoid being hit by an oncoming train. She escaped death, but lost her right hand.

Screaming in shock and fully conscious, Katz was rushed to Bellevue Hospital where she spent the next 17 hours in surgery. Her hand was recovered, but in 1979 reattaching a limb was a pioneering effort. "The only reason they did it was because I was young and a musician. My hand was severely crushed," she said.

The media attention began immediately. The press loved Katz (now Katz-Borst) because she smiled all the time. Her father, a Holocaust survivor, had taught her how to go within herself to survive. But the fervor robbed Katz-Borst of time to grieve. "It was devastating," she said.

Because of the nature of the crime, security officers stationed themselves outside the door. But in the wake of the violence, only cards and letters from complete strangers, some with poems, poured into Katz-Borst's hospital room. She posted them on the walls for inspiration. Panhandlers offered her their pennies. Her world had changed, and she began to explore new avenues of self expression. "I was extremely lucky in that I could sing. I found other patients in the hospital who were musicians, and I would accompany them."

After seven surgeries, Katz-Borst began outpatient rehabilitation at The Rusk Institute for Rehabilitation Medicine. There she met Dr. Howard A. Rusk, who helped her family pay for the cost of her treatments. He also introduced Katz-Borst to the facility's internship program for students bound for health care careers. Ironically, she had learned about the program before the accident. "My father said not to rely only on music as a career, which was smart. I had learned about occupational therapy and was considering enrolling."

Although the circumstances that brought Katz-Borst to Rusk were far from ideal, she flourished under the wing of her mentor, Patricia Casler, OTR, a hand therapist. After two years she decided to major in OT and minor in voice at New York University. She began working as an OT in 1983, and her personal experience with injury and rehabilitation has given her a unique perspective as a therapist. "I am extremely empathetic. That's my best quality as a therapist. Patients like working with me because they feel they can relate to me in some way."

Katz-Borst uses her right hand primarily as a functional assist. She has full flexion in her fingers, but has little extension or intrinsic movement. "I'm grateful that I am able to use it," Katz-Borst said.

And because her case set the pace for replantation surgery, her misfortune has brought tremendous benefit to patients who have lost limbs. "Now they are able to do wonderful things with replantation surgery," she said.

Katz-Borst's love of both occupational therapy and music have melded beautifully. At times she sings to her patients. Her experience has taught her that "if you lose a part of yourself, there is always another part that you can develop. There is always something within yourself that you can develop, and if you dig deep enough you will find it."

Katz-Borst thanks her family for the strength that sustained her throughout the healing process. She also looks to the nurse who only allowed her five minutes a day to feel sorry for herself. "'The rest of the time you have to get up and do something,' she told me, and so she got me started on handwriting."

The generosity and support of Dr. Rusk will remain with Katz-Borst always. "When he died in 1989, I was asked to be the patient representative at his funeral. I think that was the biggest honor I have ever had."

The media still seek her out on occasion, when they need a survivor story (she has been on talk shows and was mentioned recently in Reader's Digest). But she is finding herself in the limelight again, more for her talent, not her misfortune. When she is not working as an OT in the New York City schools, she performs as a singer in Manhattan cabarets. Her new compact disc, Never Been Gone, is a collection of inspirational songs about life's journey.

A new mom, Katz-Borst is taking another exciting journey. But the philosophy that has sustained her through her career and recovery will easily guide her through motherhood. "It is important to always create new challenges for yourself," she said.

This article originally appeared in Advance for Occupational Therapy Practitioners, September 14, 1998.